Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time)
by CallMeLy
Summary: The Zephzo Angst AU, follows the BG zombies from my fic collection Limelight. Zephyr and Alonzo have just had the best year of their lives – they didn't expect the worst year to come so soon. One little mistake brings everything crashing down around them. First chapter may be leaning on an M rating for violence (Title from the song When We Die by Bowling For Soup)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't. The song How Far This Can Go is by Bowling For Soup.

You might want to read Limelight if you haven't already for the context behind this story!

This was inspired by a writing prompt I found on Tumblr about a month ago which spiralled into a full story that will probably break your heart. I'm calling this an AU because while it could happen on the same timeline as Limelight, I just don't want my boys to have to go through this so it's a separate thing, but everything in Limelight before this still applies. OK? OK

Warning for some gore in just this chapter

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Chapter 1

 _This is gonna be our year...!_

The past year had been amazing. The zombie integration had begun and was progressing more and more with every single day. They were no longer made to wear uniforms, their curfew had been pushed back to midnight, and the barrier was open during the day with a patrol officer on guard to monitor who came in and out so zombies and humans alike had no problems visiting friends on the other side of town. There were plans to renovate parts of Zombie Town, as well: the plaza would once again be fully open and the council was discussing turning the old power plant into some kind of recreational facility – an actually official one – and possibly even naming it a historical landmark.

Zephyr and Alonzo had been together for nine, going on ten months. Roz and Keira were nearing eight months. Zach's love life still didn't seem to be going anywhere but he could live with that. BFZ was regularly performing at the zombie mash. A few of the zombies were looking forward to being able to join more of the formerly human-only teams and clubs at school soon, Zephyr being among them with his heart set on the football team.

The zombies' second year at Seabrook High School was about to begin.

And this one could be over before it even started.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

It was a clear night late in August when it happened. Band practice had finished some time ago but Zephyr and Alonzo were still out on the streets, taking their time walking back to Zephyr's house. They had been practicing at Alonzo's and Zephyr had left his guitar there so they had nothing to weigh them down, walking hand-in-hand as the sky turned dark. It didn't seem like anybody else was around. Zephyr's mom and dad would both be working up until curfew that night and Rizzo wouldn't start to worry about them until an hour or so before. There was no rush to be anywhere.

They were joking and laughing back and forth, mostly about that day's practice, and every now and then, one would peck the other's cheek, or the corner of his mouth. After a few minutes, the silence was too tempting and Alonzo was singing out loud.

" _Let's take it fast or slow, hold our breaths and jump into whatever this is_ ," he looped his arm around Zephyr's shoulders, still holding his hand, and pulled him closer, " _Grab a coat and let it all rain down!_ "

Zephyr chuckled and tilted his head just the slightest bit to kiss him, then he joined in the song, " _If we never stop believing, it's gonna be alright, but if we don't try, we may never know how far this can go!_ "

He smiled as Alonzo's lips grazed his but before he could kiss him again, they were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"Disgusting..." the voice mumbled, just barely audible and coming from a nearby alleyway, "Filthy, rotting..." then trailed off into slurred gibberish. Whoever it was sounded drunk, and angry. The boys completely froze for a second and Zephyr craned his neck to look for the owner of the voice. Alonzo squeezed his hand.

"Zeph, be careful."

A human man half-stepped, half-tripped out of the alley, sending an empty can of beer rolling across the ground.

"You lost or something, man?" Zephyr asked sarcastically, "Sounds like you're on the wrong side of town."

The man's drooping eyes landed on Zephyr and Alonzo's joined hands, "As if we needed another reason to get ridda you zombies..." he sneered and Zephyr instinctively pulled Al behind him, taking a protective stance. He didn't seem to have any kind of weapon or anything on him. Alonzo tried to get Zephyr to move away, to just leave, but he stood his ground.

"Go on, we don't need your kind around here."

"No, no, no, _we_ don't need _your_ kind 'round here! None of you! The whole..." he staggered forward and gestured broadly up and down the street, "Whole zombie race needs to be eradicated. Wiped out! Gone! Like you _should_ have been fifty years ago!"

Pushing Alonzo back, Zephyr took a few cautious steps towards the human.

"Zeph?" Al was getting more and more frightened by the second, "What are you doing?"

But when Zephyr turned back with a reassuring look to tell him "Don't worry, I can handle this," Alonzo barely even noticed. He was looking straight past Zephyr at the human, who was charging towards them. It was like he'd sobered up in a matter of seconds and Al realised too late he must have been faking. This was planned. The man grabbed Zephyr from behind, catching him completely off guard, and dragged him backwards into the alleyway.

" _No!_ " Alonzo screamed and went to reach out for him but the human got Zephyr in a headlock.

"One more step and he dies."

Al obeyed. Eyes wide with fear, Zephyr clawed at the arms around his neck. He opened his mouth but couldn't get any words out. The human glared down at him and threw him hard against the wall of the alley. Zephyr dropped to the ground, coughing and groaning. Alonzo took a single step closer but Zephyr was pulled up again and he stopped. He didn't want to make this any worse.

"I thought you freaks could take a little extra pain," the man chuckled cruelly and shook Zephyr around, "Not so tough now, huh?"

There was a thud in Alonzo's chest. His mind went blank as a warning flashed on his Z-band and it began to beep, slowly at first. He was panting heavily, adrenaline coursing through his body, but with no clue what to do, he found himself frozen stiff. Even as Zephyr was slammed into the brick wall a second time, all he could do was scream again and again.

" _Stop!_ " his voice was growing hoarse and he choked on tears, " _Please_ , just stop...!"

But the man didn't. His arm was crushing Zephyr's windpipe and he gasped for breath, but he still made an attempt to speak.

"Al... Al, run! Get help...! Call som-"

He was cut off as the human hoisted him off the ground by his throat to pull him further into the alley, and that's when Alonzo saw what looked like a pile of rope just barely visible on the ground. Now he was really panicking. He forced his right hand towards his Z-band; if he couldn't find his own voice, calling the patrol, or anyone for that matter, would at least let them hear what was happening. But he couldn't even so much as tap the screen, too frazzled and unfocused, and unable to take his eyes off his boyfriend for the fear he'd be gone when he looked back up. The human loosened his grip around Zephyr's neck ever so slightly to reach for the rope and the two zombies' eyes locked, Zephyr's pleading and Alonzo's desperate. Zephyr could manage to talk now.

"Call the patrol! Rizzo! Anyone!"

" _Shut up!_ " the man roared into his ear and tightened his hold on him again, turning his eyes on Al, "You're not callin' anybody, ya hear?"

He couldn't anyway. His fingers slipped across the screen and he still refused to lose sight of Zephyr for even a second. Then his nails fell into the crack between the two panels which concealed the clasp locking it onto his wrist. A wave of realisation came over him.

Well, what else could he do?

Zephyr seemed to read his mind and shouted his name but was quickly silenced by a hand over his mouth. He bit down, hard, until the man swore in pain and pulled his hand away. Zephyr kept crying out to Al. Alonzo, however, ignored Zephyr's warnings and kept digging his nails into the locked clasp of his Z-band. He had to be able to work it open, he _had_ to, but it was no use.

"Al, don't, it's not worth it..." he could vaguely hear Zephyr begging him but his ears were ringing. His fingertips burned but that was the least of his concerns, he wasn't going to stop now. Eventually, the panels came apart, the clasp not quite opening but unhinging enough that he might he able to slip his hand out of it.

That wouldn't he necessary, though, because with the band hanging loose from his wrist, the pulses couldn't fully reach him and he could feel his consciousness slipping away. His vision swam and the roaring in his ears grew louder, blocking out Zephyr's desperate pleas and the now frantic beeping of the still-activated band. Alonzo's arm dropped to his side and the band clattered to the ground as he slowly lifted his head. His veins darkened, bulging against his skin, and his eyes seemed to sink deeper into his skull, wild and hungry. His jaw hung open, teeth bared, and he fixed his sights on the human.

Alonzo surged forward, a low, guttural growl escaping from his throat and his hands outstretched in claws, seeking his victim. The human dropped Zephyr and tried to back away but the only place he had to go was further into the alleyway. Zephyr scrambled across the ground until his back was pressed against the wall. It wasn't much longer before Alonzo caught up to the human and grabbed him, just as he had done to Zephyr.

"Alonzo!"

It was hopeless, there was no chance Zephyr could get through to him now. His nails scratched the human's face as he held him in a vice-like grip, snarling and drooling.

" _Ag... garzi'ka...!_ "

Zephyr's heart broke. Was it better or worse that Alonzo was still conscious of why he was attacking the human? He struggled to his feet, leaning on the wall until he could find his balance.

"Al..." he breathed, not nearly loud enough for Alonzo to hear even if he had been listening, "Al, I'm fine, I'm here! You can stop, you don't have to...!" He stumbled towards him but he quickly came to a halt when it was clear Al was too far gone.

The human, stuck in Alonzo's grasp, stared up at him, babbling incoherently in pure fear. Zephyr could only assume he was begging for mercy, which he certainly was not going to get. In one sharp movement, his neck was snapped. Alonzo gnashed his teeth hungrily and everything seemed to slow down as Zephyr witnessed his boyfriend, feral and bloodthirsty, bring the human's head crashing down onto the sidewalk until the skull cracked open as easily as an egg. He flinched and looked away but the sound echoed in his ears. When he could bare to look back at Alonzo, he had pulled the exposed brain up to his mouth. Zephyr gulped.

Al's Z-band lay abandoned on the sidewalk a few feet away, still beeping at regular intervals. Zephyr shook himself from his stupor and rushed to pick it up. The screen was flashing back and forth between an orange 'WARNING' and, surprisingly, the normal green 'ONLINE'. Then again, nothing had been done to destabilise the band or put it offline. He didn't have time to think about it, though, and went to kneel down beside Alonzo.

He tried hard to ignore the sloppy, wet sounds of chewing and the occasional snap of sinew and wrenched Al away from the body by his shoulders. Al growled at him a little but when their eyes met, it was clear he recognised him perfectly well. He wasn't going to hurt him, he just wanted to be free to eat in peace. Zephyr had to hold him still to get the Z-band onto his wrist and once he did, he pressed it against his skin to make sure the pulses could get through properly. It was still online, which meant the electromagnetic current was still flowing, but there was also the problem of the unhinged clasp. Despite that, the band was at least doing its job; the beeping came to a stop and Alonzo's breath was starting to even out. Zephyr needed more than that, though, to be convinced he was alright.

"Al? Al, come back to me, c'mon...!" Zephyr fumbled with the band, trying to get the panels to slide back into place while simultaneously caressing Alonzo's face. When they finally clicked he sighed in relief and held them there for a moment just to be sure. Alonzo's dark veins had already slowly started to recede and Zephyr brought his other hand to his face, turning Al's head to meet his eyes, "Alonzka... Garzi'ka? Zav. Droz zav." _Love? It's over. It's all over._

He was still growling lowly but his voice sounded more normal now, "Garz... Garzi'ka...?"

"Za, za, Alonzka," Zephyr brushed his thumb over Alonzo's cheek, "Ag grodge. Droz grodge." _I'm alright. Everything's alright._

"Grodge?" His skin was back to its usual pale grey and he blinked in confusion.

"Za!"

Alonzo frowned, bringing a hand to his head, and looked around but immediately flinched back at the sight of the carnage. Blood was splattered across the sidewalk and the human's body was unrecognisable. Red and pink and black oozed everywhere and the shattered remains of a skull were cast in disarray around what used to be a head. Alonzo stared in horror, unable to look away no matter how much Zephyr tried to make him. Then he tasted blood on his tongue and felt something wedged between his teeth and it suddenly dawned on him. Bile began to rise in his throat and he shoved Zephyr off to fall on his hands and knees and vomit. Zephyr rested his hands on Alonzo's back and arm and he soon sat up, only to look back at the gory scene he was responsible for.

"D-did I...?" He knew the answer. He couldn't deny it.

Zephyr stared at him, not sure what he was feeling, "... You saved me..." he whispered.

"But, I-I..." Alonzo had to spit out the words, disgusted at himself, "I killed hi-"

With one hand on Al's cheek, Zephyr forced him to look away from the body and focus on him instead, "You saved me."

Alonzo could only gape in shock.

"I just killed somebody, Zephyr!"

His other hand clamped onto Al's arm like it was a lifeline, "Would you rather he killed me? He could've killed more zombies! You stopped him."

Both of them sat there in silence, Alonzo looking completely lost, terrified and close to tears. Still with his hand on Al's face, Zephyr leaned closer and kissed his cheek but got no response. And when he dared to edge towards his lips, Alonzo jerked away.

"Don't, I'm covered i..."

Alonzo trailed off, scared to finish his sentence. He licked his lips but that just made him throw up again, retching and heaving while Zephyr brushed back his hair and did what he could to comfort him. Once he was done, Zephyr risked turning back to the mutilated corpse to tear a piece of fabric from its clothes. He crouched beside Alonzo to gently wipe his face with it and although it still left an obvious streak of blood around his mouth, Zephyr kissed him.

"I love you. OK?"

He held Alonzo's face in his hands, keeping him from looking back at the body, and Al held onto his arm.

"Zephyr..." His voice shook.

" _I love you._ "

"Zeph?" Tears were forming in his eyes.

"Alonzo, listen to me. You saved me. Just remember that. We need to get out of here, though."

"I don't... Zeph, what are we supposed to do?"

"Sshh..." Zephyr caressed his face, "One step at a time, Al. We need to get you somewhere safe first."

"I-I can't go home...!"

"I know, I know, we can't let your mom see you like this. But my parents are working late tonight. You can stay with me, no-one'll suspect a thing and we can figure this out, OK?"

Alonzo nodded weakly, "OK..."

Zephyr helped him to his feet and led him home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.

Well, that first chapter was wild, huh? Don't worry, that's all the gore there's gonna be. Go to krut09's YouTube channel, Kreatable23, to see a trailer for Tattooed Mistakes (and Limelight and Another Way) and get a glimpse at what's to come ;)

More BtB and Limelights are coming~ A couple of those Limelights will include a bit of context and maybe one or two new BGZ I haven't written about much before who are set to appear in this fic so keep an eye out there for the extra info!

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Chapter 2

They made it back to the house around 11 o'clock and Zephyr opened the front door with Alonzo, shaking and uneasy, clinging to his arm. When they were inside and the door was closed, Zephyr called out.

"Rizzo!"

Alonzo's eyes bulged and he pulled Zephyr back to hiss at him, "What are you _doing_?"

"Hey, hey, it's OK, she'll help. You know she wouldn't let you get into any trouble."

"Zeph..."

He trailed off as Rizzo descended the stairs, looking more irritated than anything, " _What?_ You just came through the front door and you're alre-" she stopped short when she saw Alonzo's face, traces of blood still smeared across his lips and down his chin. He seemed to shrink back from her, cowering behind his boyfriend despite being taller than him.

Zephyr quickly turned to him and placed a comforting hand on his arm then held the other up to Rizzo, "Please don't freak out, Riz, before you say anything. This looks bad and... and it is bad, but we need your help."

She shook her head slowly, dazed and still staring. She moved towards them like she was in a trance.

"Al..." it took a few tries for her to continue, "Wh-what happened? Zephyr. Don't... Don't tell me he...!"

Alonzo met her eyes. He stood there, opening and closing his mouth but unable to speak without a strangled sob breaking up his words, "I... Riz, I-I... M-my band-"

Zephyr's arms were around him in an instant and Alonzo hid his face in the crook of his neck, leaving Zephyr to explain. He nodded reluctantly at Rizzo.

"Yeah. He..." Another sob racked Alonzo's body at the mere memory and Zephyr held a hand to his face. He shushed him softly before taking a deep breath, swallowing the lump in his throat, and turning back to Rizzo, "He killed somebody."

"Oh, sweet Z," Rizzo brought her hands to her mouth then up through her hair. She carefully pulled Alonzo out of her brother's grasp and looked at him, "A-and you...?"

Her fingers brushed his bloodstained face. She didn't want to say those words out loud. He dropped his head in shame and that confirmed her fears.

"Rizzo," Zephyr stepped forward, "He did it for me. This guy, this human, he was planning on, like, trying to eradicate the zombies and he saw us out and he grabbed me..."

Rizzo pulled him to her chest and held him close, "Did he hurt you? Either of you?" She looked from him to Alonzo and back again. Zephyr hesitated and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Zephyr."

He said nothing.

"Zephyr, what did he do?"

"He threw him against a wall..." Alonzo said, his voice still thick with tears.

Rizzo gasped. Zephyr, knowing where this was going, sighed and let her inspect his bruises. Zombies didn't bruise easily, what with their near non-existent circulation, so even a couple of small ones on his neck, shoulder and arms were enough to worry her. But that could wait; the zombie mutation meant he'd heal faster than a human and the pain probably wouldn't last as long. There were more pressing matters.

"Alright... Alonzo," she started and turned his head to look down at her, "What happened to your Z-band?"

His breath hitched and he floundered momentarily until Zephyr began rubbing soothing circles on his back, "I-I... I took it off. Zephyr was in danger and I don't know what happened, I couldn't move, I couldn't talk, it was all I could think of and... I'm such an idiot, I took off my Z-band and I _killed_ someone and I ruined _everything_...!"

"Hey, hey, hey, listen...!" Rizzo hugged him, locking eyes with Zephyr behind him, "You saved my little brother, Al, that's what you did. That's what you need to be thinking of here, OK?" she pulled away, placing her hands on his face again, "You know what? I think I'd have done the same thing if it had been me."

"Don't say that."

"I _would_ ," she said it so sincerely, "If there was nothing else I could do, I'd take that risk."

She stepped back and straightened up with Zephyr and Alonzo watching.

"What do we do, Riz?"

"Well, first off, I think it's a given that we can't breath a word of this to anybody. And that means Roz and Zach, and Lindzey. I won't even tell Zane. And definitely not any of our parents, for now, at least. Alright?" the boys nodded, "Alright. Second order of business: the body."

Alonzo went stiff, eyes down and filled with fear, "We just left it there..."

"Al..." Zephyr reached out to him but his head jerked up and he looked right past Zephyr.

"The patrol's gonna be in town in less than an hour. They'll find it." He stared at the front door, like he expected them to burst in right then and there, but Rizzo shook her head.

"They'd still have to examine it before they can trace it back to you. Don't go scaring yourself just yet."

There was a knock at the door and an authoritative-sounding voice calling out "Zombie patrol! We have a few questions to ask you."

Alonzo's eyebrows shot up and he turned to Rizzo, gesturing wildly towards the door, " _See?_ " he hissed. A quick glance at the clock told them it was barely even 11:30; they certainly weren't here for the usual rounds at curfew.

"They can't have pinned this on you yet, Al," Zephyr said, "If they had, they'd be at your place first."

That made enough sense to make Alonzo relax, but he wasn't entirely convinced. Rizzo didn't give him a chance to argue, though.

"You two, upstairs, _now_ ," she pushed them both away, "Get that blood off your face before they see you. I'll take care of this."

He nodded and headed up the stairs with Zephyr to the bathroom. The moment he saw his own face in the mirror, Al took a step back.

"Oh, Z..."

His chin and one side of his mouth were stained with red. He went to touch it and noticed for the first time the blood under his nails. He stared at them for a moment before Zephyr took his hand and turned him around.

"Come here."

While Al had been distracted, Zephyr had already taken out and dampened a washcloth and Alonzo let him carefully wipe away the blood. They were both quiet and the muffled conversation could be heard from the floor beneath them.

"Are your parents home?"

"No, sir, they've got work until right before midnight."

"You have a brother, correct? What about him?"

"My brother's home, and his boyfriend."

There was a brief pause.

"You have someone outside of your own family here this close to curfew?" a different voice to the first. There were two officers. Safety in numbers.

"He'll be spending the night."

"Alright," the first voice said, then turned serious, "Now, not to alarm you, but there has been a rather serious incident. The dead body of a human was found not far from here with its brain half-eaten. We are questioning every zombie in the area, which means we'll be needing to speak all three of you."

Alonzo shot Zephyr a look of panic as soon as Rizzo mentioned them but he pretended not to see. Instead, his eyes fell on Al's Z-band. It still looked fine from where he was standing but when he squinted, he could see a clear split between the panels. He lifted Alonzo's hand up and snapped the panels back into place just as Rizzo called from downstairs.

"Zephyr! Al! Come down, the patrol's here!"

Zephyr was holding the band together, like he had after slipping it back onto Alonzo's wrist, "We're coming!"

He let go and once he was satisfied that the band would stay, he took Al's hand and led him to the door.

"Zeph, they're gonna check our bands," Al said, "Even if that holds up, they'll see the records..."

"It'll be fine."

"You know how serious this is, right?"

"I _know_ ," Zephyr stopped and looked him in the eye, "Just trust me. We gotta go now before they get suspicious."

They couldn't say anymore after that as they were coming into earshot of the officers. Rizzo looked slightly shaken but the boys both knew her well enough to know she was faking it. Zephyr felt his nerves rising as he was told what he already knew, all too well, but could manage to look shocked at least. Alonzo, however, was visibly afraid. As luck would have it, though, the officers misunderstood why.

"Don't worry, son, everybody on this side of town is going through the same thing. It's all just standard procedure."

Al nodded silently and Zephyr glanced at him. When the officer finished speaking, he took a breath, "We saw a human in town on the way home."

Alonzo held his breath and Rizzo watched her brother closely. The officers' attention was on him.

"At about what time?"

He pretended to think, "Uh, we left band practice around 9 and we saw him when we were maybe halfway home? He looked drunk or something so-"

"We didn't wanna start any trouble..." Al said quietly. He kept his head down and Zephyr noticed him gulp. He wanted so badly to hug him and but he might end up giving something away. Besides the officer had already made a note and moved on, now asking them for a physical description of the human. After all, it was nearly impossible to identify him as it was. More questions came, Zephyr taking the brunt of the load and Rizzo chipping in where she could to save Al the trouble but then one of the officers uttered the words he had been dreading.

"Alright, as a precaution, we're going to have to make some checks on each of your Z-bands. Let's take a look."

Of course, Rizzo's showed nothing out of the ordinary. Zephyr's didn't either – it had registered a slight heartbeat but not enough to trigger a warning – but Alonzo was prepared for the worst when he held out his wrist.

"Hm," the officer frowned and all three of them waited for an explanation, "You were transmitting a warning almost an hour ago. Nothing suggesting the band went offline, of course, but was there some other problem?"

"I..." Al didn't know what to say. He had expected taking off his Z-band would automatically classify as being offline. Zephyr spoke for him, his voice level but caring.

"He was scared. When we saw the human, he was scared that he'd do something. You don't see drunk humans just hanging around Zombie Town on their own and _not_ freak out a little. He's been worrying about it since then."

Alonzo shot him a grateful look. His answer seemed to satisfy them but a light knock on the open front door made all five of them turn around. Another officer stood there, her eyes on the zombies. More specifically, on Al.

"Are you Alonzo Morgan?" Next to the twins, he was obviously the odd one out.

Al froze. He'd made it this far, this couldn't be it. The twins exchanged a wary glance as he nodded. The officer stepped inside.

"I'm just confirming your whereabouts. I've come straight from questioning your mother and was told you would be here. And you're staying here for tonight?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Alright," she turned to her colleagues, "Everything check out OK?"

"All clear. These boys apparently had a near run-in with the victim some time before the attack," Alonzo had to force himself not to flinch at the word, "And both showed some minor band activity but nothing of any concern."

Alonzo barely registered anything else they said. His head was reeling and Zephyr came closer, his hands coming up to Al's arms and his face mere inches away, while Rizzo was still talking to the patrol officers.

"You good?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I think so."

Zephyr briefly pecked his lips then he turned to the last officer who had stopped in the doorway.

"There may still be time before curfew officially begins but you are all expected to stay indoors until morning. The patrol will be investigating the area for the rest of the night. When your parents come through, we'll inform them of what happened."

The second they were gone, Alonzo let out a long breath and started back upstairs, "What the hell?" he looked down at his band and began frantically swiping through screens for Z-knows-what, "Why didn't it say I was offline?"

Zephyr wasn't far behind him, while Rizzo stayed put. She suspected they'd need some time to talk about things. Zephyr caught up to Al and touched his arm lightly, "You _weren't_ offline."

"You've got to be kidding me," Al stared at him blankly, "And I thought I was the dumb one. You saw everything, I was _gone_."

"No, no, no, the band never went offline. You just weren't _wearing_ it," Zephyr explained as he came to stand in front of him, "I picked it up and it was still online."

"... Oh..." He suddenly looked uneasy again.

"Hey, are you OK?"

"Y-yeah..."

"You sure? You practically puked up your guts," he turned aside, "Or more like someone else's br-" He stopped himself when he saw Al cover his mouth like he was going to be sick again. He immediately regretted saying anything, "Oh, Z, Al, I'm sorry...! This is not the time f-"

Alonzo didn't even register what Zephyr was saying, he just ran to the bathroom to throw up. Honestly, he was surprised he'd managed to hold it in for this long with that taste still lingering in his mouth. Zephyr followed behind him to hold back his hair and murmur words of comfort in his ear.

"We'll be fine. They didn't find out. You're safe."

Al turned around and sat up, "Yeah, for now..."

"So maybe we've just bought ourselves some time," Zephyr stood to get a fresh washcloth and run it under warm water. He crouched beside Al, wringing it out as he spoke, "But we'll figure it out. We're gonna be fine."

He avoided looking Al in the eye and started to clean his face for him, until Al snatched the cloth from him to do it himself, "You think I can just go back to normal knowing what I did?"

"We-"

Al threw the cloth to the floor, "You keep saying 'we' like you had any part in it."

"I'm the reason you did it. I _saw_ you do it. But I'm not gonna give you up. You protected me, I'm gonna protect you."

Alonzo had no more arguments. He let Zephyr help him to his feet and took the glass of water he offered him without a word. Soon enough, Zephyr was leading Al to his bedroom and going through the regular night-time routine. It somehow felt wrong to Alonzo to be acting so natural at a time like this but he didn't have the energy to stop Zephyr as he helped Al undress and dragged him into the bed beside him. Zephyr sat up against the headboard and pulled Alonzo to his chest, holding him tightly, and Alonzo couldn't resist the urge to cuddle up to him, his head on Zephyr's shoulder and his nose pressed against his neck.

"We can figure this out in the morning," Zephyr told him, "You need to sleep."

Alonzo's arm came to wrap around his waist, "Zeph, I'm scared..."

"I know... I am, too..."

"I really thought they were gonna take me away."

"Don't worry," he felt Zephyr's lips against his forehead, "I'm not gonna let that happen to you," he promised.

But everyone makes promises they can't keep.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

By midnight, Zephyr had fallen asleep but Al was wide awake. Their positions had swapped as Zephyr now lay nestled into Alonzo. He heard the front door open and close, and the murmurs of Rizzo greeting her mom and dad, and their conversation about the incident. His own name came up as Rizzo explained how he and Zephyr had seen the human, but nothing more.

He absentmindedly played with Zephyr's hair, lost in thought, until he was disturbed by footsteps coming up the stairs. The twins' parents appeared in the doorway and Alonzo stopped, looking down at Zephyr's peacefully sleeping form then back up at them with the same anxious expression he had been wearing all night but they just smiled sympathetically at him. Zephyr's dad held up a hand in a small wave and his mom mouthed "goodnight" before they both turned towards their own bedroom. Rizzo was right behind them. They locked eyes for a moment and she glanced back to make sure her parents were out of sight before quietly walking up the bed. She leaned over to hug Alonzo, careful not to wake Zephyr up and whispered into his ear.

"It'll be OK."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.

More angst. A little bit of fluff, but mostly angst. And what's this? Plot progression? Incredible

I'll post one or two Limelights over the next week introducing a couple new BGZ who are gonna appear, but if you follow my Tumblr you might already know of them~ Also, I have a playlist of songs relating to each chapter of Tattooed Mistakes! I add the songs for each chapter the day before an update. It's unlisted on YouTube so if you want the link, message me or find it on my Tumblr~

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Chapter 3

He lay there for another hour or two after Zephyr had fallen asleep and when he finally felt his drowsiness overtake him, Alonzo was jolted awake again in no time by a nightmare, reliving the incident as if he was watching his full-zombie self kill and eat the human. He remembered where he was when Zephyr, half-asleep with his eyes still closed, pulled him closer. Al relaxed into his arms as he held him and tried to push the memories from his mind. He did fall asleep eventually but not for long. Something stirred him awake. He felt lips against his and instinctively kissed back. He opened his eyes for a moment and saw Zephyr standing over him, already up and dressed, only to roll over again and bury his face in the pillow. He didn't want to deal with the waking world just yet.

A hand brushed against his face. "Hey, Sleeping Beauty, wake up."

Then again, going back to sleep could mean more nightmares.

Al pushed Zephyr off and got out of bed, not once looking at him. He stretched and when his joints cracked, the sound seem to echo around the room, far louder in his head that it had to sound to Zephyr, reminding Al of the grotesque crack of the human's skull. He couldn't see it. It was almost like he'd been unconscious, with virtually no memory of it, but that sound stuck in his mind.

"What's wrong?" Zephyr asked urgently. He came closer and put a hand on his shoulder but Alonzo shook his head and stepped back.

"Nothing."

"You flinched. You never flinch at crackin-" he trailed off when their eyes met and he understood. He changed the subject, "Did... did you sleep?"

"Barely."

Of course he didn't. His voice was croaky and he looked exhausted as he went about getting dressed. Not the best subject change. It was quiet for a moment.

"You hungry?"

"No."

He didn't want to talk. It was so unlike him. Zephyr moved in front of him, hoping he'd look at him properly, "You should really eat something, you threw up a lot last night."

Alonzo sighed, rubbing an eye, and turned to look at Zephyr, "I don't think I could stomach anything."

Zephyr chewed his lip nervously, "Al, you know you d-"

"Can we not talk about it? For now?"

His strained voice alone was enough to make Zephyr comply. Instead, he tugged on Al's hand and gave him a pleading look, "At least try and eat something, come on."

It didn't seem like puppy-dog eyes were going to work.

"I can't," Al insisted, running his hands down his face, "I don't even want to think about eating right now and lets face it, anything brain flavoured is _definitely_ coming back up."

Zephyr nodded, his tongue in his cheek, and they went downstairs.

When Rizzo saw them, she waited until her parents backs were turned then came over to quietly ask them "You guys doing OK?"

"Didn't sleep much..."

She reached out to stroke his arm but there wasn't much more she could do before her mom addressed the boys.

"Well, good morning you two, nice of you to join us," she joked and Zephyr winced at the obvious attempt to act normal despite the elephant in the room, "Al, honey, you staying for breakfast?"

"Uh... not today..."

Rizzo shot Zephyr a worried look when Alonzo declined the offer and he could only shake his head. If Al noticed, he ignored them.

"I should get home. Let my mom know I'm OK after last night and all."

They were both surprised, but it didn't seem like they were going to pry. He said goodbye to them and Zephyr walked him to the door in silence. Out on the porch, though, he stopped him before he could leave.

"Listen. I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, Al. I promise you, I won't let them take you away from me."

They both chose to believe he could keep that promise.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

Alonzo had only just made it onto his street when he thought he heard someone calling his name. He stopped and listened until it came again, getting closer.

"Al...!" something small crashed into him and threw him off balance. He felt arms around him and looked down at a dark green ponytail.

"Lindzey?"

His sister lifted her head to reveal her slightly scared expression, "The patrol told Dad you saw the human last night and your band went crazy and-"

"Whoa, whoa, Lin, slow down!" he gently pushed her back, keeping his hands on her shoulders, and crouched down a little to her level.

"Did you really see him?"

He made a false start or two before he could actually answer, "Yeah, yeah, I did, but... I-I'm fine. Don't worry about it, I had Zephyr with me, it's..." he took a long breath, "It's fine."

"You sure?" Lindzey frowned, "You don't look fine."

"What?"

"You're distracted."

"I'm just..." he glanced back towards Zephyr's street, "... Worried..." then he shook his head, "And my band wasn't going crazy, it was a normal warning."

That still surprised and confused him, but he was grateful. It had saved him from some serious trouble.

"So, why'd you get a warning?"

Did she always ask this many questions?

"Uh... I-I guess I panicked when I saw the guy. I mean, it was kinda obvious he wasn't exactly here to make friends, but... w-we got back to Zephyr's alright."

Lindzey turned nervous, wringing her hands and looking up at Alonzo, "Everybody's freaking out. I heard Paizley had a panic attack or something."

"Wait, she _what_?"

"When the patrol went to her house. She started crying and hid in her room. Dad was talking to her parents about it."

"Oh, Z..." Al muttered under his breath. He backed away a couple of steps then turned around and set off walking in the direction of his house. Lindzey followed him.

"Are you going home?"

"Yeah."

"Can I come?"

"Why?"

"'Cause I wanna."

"No. Dad's gonna want you to stay home with him right now."

Lindzey moved to stand in front of him, making him stop.

"When did you start caring what Dad wants?"

"Lindzey, this is serious, OK?" Al held up his hands, "Go back to Dad's, I'll see you when I see you. Just stay safe."

He hurried past her.

" _Al!_ " she called after him but he ignored her, and any other protests she made. He blocked everything out, thinking of nothing else but what he had done and what he could possibly do now. What would come of it. How much harm this could do.

His mom came running down the hall the moment he set foot inside the door and hugged him tight.

"Thank Z you're alright...!" she breathed as he hugged her back. She brought her hands to his face and kissed his forehead then looked at him, "Alonzo, sweetheart, you are _far_ too pale, are you feeling OK? Have you eaten?"

No point in lying. Alonzo shook his head, "I... I actually feel kinda sick..."

"I'm not surprised, after what happened last night!"

After some more fussing, she let him go upstairs to his room. Upon entering, he suddenly felt like he hadn't been there in years. Everything looked too normal, too... innocent. Dirty clothes on the floor, posters on the walls, photographs of himself with Zephyr, Zach and Roz everywhere. Shelves stacked high with CDs – mostly Bowling For Soup – and the decades-old CD player Zephyr had gotten from Paizley for him. Alonzo sighed and fell backwards onto his bed, covering his face with his hands. He didn't know what to do. It didn't feel right to do anything. He couldn't go about his normal everyday life with these thoughts in his head. He dropped his arms onto the bed above him and lay there for a minute or two. He let his eyes drift across the room once more and they fell on his guitar in its stand in the corner, and Zephyr's guitar propped against the wall beside it, safe in its case. He stared at them, then sat up and swiped the screen of his Z-band. It wasn't long before he heard that comforting, and concerned, voice he loved so much coming through the speaker.

"Hey, what's up? You haven't even been gone an hour, did something happen?"

"No, I just, um... Y-your guitar's still here..."

The line was quiet for a moment.

"... You just want me to come over, don't you?"

"... Yeah."

"I'll be right there. Love you."

"Love you too."

Alonzo hung up and closed his eyes. He didn't want to be alone with his thoughts right now. But he would still have to be for the next few minutes until Zephyr got there.

Zephyr, who had witnessed him kill and eat a man because he was too _weak_ to do anything else.

Zephyr, who was forced to speak for him to the officers because he was too _stupid_ to come up with an explanation himself.

Zephyr, who he had shoved away after he was kissed awake because he was too _selfish_ to acknowledge he just wanted to cheer him up.

Zephyr, who still told him he loved him... because...

 _... Why?_

Alonzo stayed in that position, mulling over the same question until he heard the front door open downstairs. He waited for the footsteps to get closer before he slowly stood up, right as Zephyr came through the door and straight into his arms. Al let himself melt into the embrace and kissed his cheek. Then he let go, completely, and stepped back.

"Al?"

He couldn't find the words at first, "I... I don't get it..."

"Get what?"

His eyes dropped to the floor. Slowly, he lifted his head again and the look on his face physically pained Zephyr.

"Why don't you hate me? Why do you still want to be with me? You saw what I did," he said through the first signs of tears. Zephyr opened his mouth but Al interrupted him, "And you can't tell me I didn't know what I was doing or I couldn't control myself because I _chose_ to take off my Z-band. I knew what that would do to me and I still took it off."

"You did it for me, though. Alonzo, you would literally... _kill_ for me. I wouldn't be here right now if you didn't take off your Z-band. I'm _alive_ because you took off your Z-band," he sounded almost in awe of him. Like it was some epic feat to murder someone. Alonzo's stomach twisted as Zephyr continued, barely above a whisper now, "And I-I think I'm falling even more in love with you for it."

Al stared at him in shock and even guilt, "Zeph, are you even hearing yourself right now?" his own voice was gradually rising, louder and more agitated, but too afraid of his mom hearing to fully shout, "You love me more because I murdered someone?" he was almost at the edge, "I _ate_ someone!"

Zephyr matched his tone, "You saved my life! How else am I supposed to feel?"

"Zephyr." It was a warning, one that Zephyr didn't listen to.

"And besides, he deserved it, didn't he?" he was getting frantic, "He wanted to get rid of us. He knew exactly what he could be risking trying to hunt down zombies and he faced the consequences."

" _Zephyr._ " A second warning.

"I'm not the only one you saved, Al, you saved all of us."

" _Zephyr!_ Stop. Just stop it," Al knew he was right. But it still felt wrong, "I know it's good that he's gone and we have one less zombiephobe to worry about. I know I would've lost you if I didn't do something. But that 'something' didn't have to be killing and _eating_ a person. What do you think the humans are saying about is now? This has _got_ to have spread to Seabrook. How much longer is it gonna be before everything goes back to the way it used to be?" Alonzo paused for breath, shooting Zephyr a desperate look, "A zombie hasn't actually eaten a human in years and I just ruined that! You keep telling me I'm not stupid but think about what this could do, all because I made one _stupid_ mistake."

"We don't know what the humans are thinking."

"Oh, come on, Zephyr! What, do you think they're gonna take _our_ side in this?"

"I- No, but..." Zephyr closed his eyes for a second to gather his thoughts, "Look, all I'm saying is that you can't blame yourself for just reacting. I was in danger, of course you weren't thinking-"

"I can blame myself, because it was _my fault_! You can't change that, Zeph. Stop trying to make this something it's not," he had never sounded so upset, "Yeah, I saved you but I did it in the worst possible way and that's gonna follow me for the rest of my life."

They were silent, staring at each other, until Zephyr stepped forward and took Alonzo's face in his hands, titling his head down to meet his eyes. He spoke softly but firmly.

"He deserved it, baby," he murmured and it almost broke Alonzo. They didn't often use any kind of pet names for one another, at least not in English, so when either of them did, it struck a chord. Alonzo looked down and licked his lips, shuddering when he briefly tasted blood that was no longer there. He turned away but Zephyr pulled him back, "One dead psycho is better than fifty dead zombies."

"I know..." Al said shakily, starting to tear up, "I know, Zeph, but I-I did it. And I'm not gonna forget about this, it was like waking up from a nightmare and finding out it was all real. I can still taste it and..." he hesitated. Zephyr could tell whatever he wanted to say was scaring him and he brought one hand down to his shoulder, rubbing it soothingly, as the other kept him from turning away again, "A-and there's something in me that keeps wanting more."

Zephyr's eye widened, though not for the reason Alonzo expected. He was concerned, not afraid, "That's not you, though. That's your zombie instinct, it's not who you really are."

"It's more who I am than right now! That's our nature. We take off our Z-bands, and that's what we become."

"The Z-bands give us control. The Z-bands let us think, we're who we really are when we can _understand_ it."

Alonzo nodded solemnly.

"And I took mine off. I made that choice."

"... OK. OK, you did. But you were scared, you panicked. And even full zombie, you wanted to protect me. I still love you for it. You can't tell me not to."

He ran his hand down Alonzo's cheek and slowly kissed him. Al kissed back but soon pulled away, still with the same sad look in his eyes.

"I love you, too. So much. But..." he sighed, "That doesn't help anything. It doesn't change what happened, or what's going to happen, or-"

"You don't know what's going to happen."

"I can guess. Things are already happening."

There was a pause as Zephyr tried curiously to read Al's expression.

"... Paizley had an episode..." he finally breathed.

"What?"

"Apparently she holed herself up in her room, crying, when the patrol came around. She must have had a flashback or something, to the raid. She wouldn't have had to go through that if it wasn't for me."

"Yeah, probably because she'd be dead."

"Would you stop?" Al snapped suddenly.

"Al-"

"No, Zeph," he calmed down just as quickly, "Can we... I don't want to think about that..."

"Alonzo..."

Out of nowhere, Alonzo pulled Zephyr into a searing kiss, clinging to him like he was scared to let him go. Zephyr lost himself in it for only a moment then pulled back. He examined Alonzo's face but he wouldn't look him in the eye until Zephyr forced him to.

"There's something else wrong. I can tell."

Alonzo's eyes stayed fixed on the floor, "I heard about Paizley from Lindzey," he sighed and finally looked up, "She was asking so many questions, how am I supposed to keep this quiet?"

"It won't help anything for her to know."

"But it helped for Rizzo to know?" Al frowned, his tone challenging.

"Al, Rizzo will take this to the _grave_. Besides, no offense to Lindzey, but she's just a little kid. She wouldn't be able to handle it."

" _We're_ just kids, Zeph. _I'm_ just a kid, I can't handle this."

"Come here..." Zephyr hugged him and Al's head dropped to his shoulder as he combed his fingers through his hair, "You don't have to do this on your own, I'm here."

Not for long.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

There was one single day of silence. One whole day where nothing really happened, where Alonzo almost let himself relax, where he and Zephyr spent time with Zach and Roz without raising any sort of suspicion. Then the following morning, there was a knock on Alonzo's front door. Lindzey, just a little further down the street outside, saw the zombie patrol walk up to her mom and brother's house and immediately ran back home to get her dad.

Alonzo was already part of the way down the stairs when his mom went to open the door. He froze when he realised what was happening, turned and ran back up. The patrol. He could hear every word they were saying to his mother. They were here for him, for real this time. He didn't know what to do, struggling for breath and already crying. He dropped to the floor, his back to the wall, only just out of sight, and did the first thing that came to mind – call Zephyr.

"H- Al? Are you crying?"

"Zeph..." he kept his voice low, "Th-the patrol's here..."

" _What?_ "

"Listen."

Alonzo held out his wrist towards the staircase.

"We have evidence against him."

"That's impossible," Al's mom replied, insistently, "I know my own son, he-"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but your son is under arrest. We will use force if we have to."

Al gulped and brought his band back up to his face, Zephyr's terrified voice not doing much to reassure him.

"Oh, Z, no... No, no, no, this can't be happening, Al, you need to get out of there."

But Alonzo could only see one possible outcome in this situation.

"I can't."

"It'll be OK, you can find a way to sneak out, I'll be there soon."

He could hear faint shuffling as Zephyr scrambled to leave.

"No, I can't, Zeph," he said, firmer now, "I... I have to go with them..."

Zephyr sounded frantic, "What? No, Alonzo, you can get out, we'll find somewhere safe, we-"

"I can't just run away."

"Al, please don't..." His voice shook.

Alonzo closed his eyes, took a breath and made his choice, "I love you, Zephyr, but you're wrong here, I need to just face the consequences. I'm going."

"You don't need to," Zephyr pleaded.

"I do," Al bit his lip, trying not to cry anymore, "You'll come visit me, right?"

"What, in _containment_? Where you're _not going_?"

" _Zephyr._ "

"... Of course I will..."

"Gar-garziga."

"Gar-garziga, zet."

He ended the call and stood. His mother paused in her attempts to convince the officers at the door they were wrong to look at him as he walked downstairs as calmly as he could.

"Alonzo? What is going on?"

"Mom..." all he could do was shrug and shake his head, "I'm sorry..." and he walked past her.

"Al, what are you doing?"

He could hear the tears building in her voice, thick and heavy, as he let himself be handcuffed. The officer putting them on was rattling off his rights but Alonzo was barely listening.

Even if Zephyr was on his way, there was no going back now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.

Well, things are going downhill... Not much more to say

Don't forget, krut09 has a trailer for this fic on her YouTube, Kreatable23, if you want to see what else is coming in this story and there's a playlist of theme songs I can give you a link for, new songs are added the day before an update so you can get an idea of what will happen~

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Chapter 4

By the time Zephyr reached Alonzo's street, a crowd had gathered. He froze at the sight of so many zombies huddled together, a few members of the zombie patrol trying to keep them under control. Rizzo had followed him out of the house and was only a few steps behind him. She came to a stop beside him and they both watched in dismay as Alonzo was escorted out of his home by two more patrol officers. Even from a distance, Zephyr could see the tear stains on Al's cheeks. He was in handcuffs and wasn't resisting at all. Everything about the scene before him left Zephyr feeling overwhelmed with fear. He was standing there for merely seconds but it felt like hours before he could urge himself forward. He made his way towards the mass of zombies with Rizzo close behind. Meanwhile, Roz and Zach were blocking the officers' path.

"Wait, no, he couldn't have done it," Roz was saying, "I know Al, he wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"Move aside, please."

Zach frowned, gesturing at Alonzo, "You can't seriously think he really killed a guy?"

"His DNA was found on the body."

"He had to have been framed, then."

"We tested saliva and teeth marks," the officer holding him explained and Alonzo flinched at the words, unable to even look at his friends, "The results were irrefutable."

Neither of them could accept this. Roz shook their head, "This doesn't make any sense! Al, come on, say something!" they grabbed his arm and he bit his lip, "You can't just take the bla-"

"Roz..." Al started, finally looking back at them, then at Zach. He tried to speak but couldn't find the words. Roz's hand slowly dropped and their face fell, as did Zach's. Zephyr, watching from just a short distance away now, could only silently mouth 'No...'.

"A-Al...?" Roz stammered, "Tell me you didn't do it..."

The officer tried to move past them again but this time, Alonzo planted his feet firmly on the ground, looked from Roz to Zach, and took a breath, "I took off my band."

Everyone went quiet, the whispers and chatter coming to a stop instantly, and every zombie present was staring at him. Zephyr took a step closer, ready to run to him, but Rizzo held him back. Roz and Zach shared a look of confusion and shock, then turned back to Alonzo.

"You _what_?"

As far as he knew, that was the sound of betrayal in Zach's voice and Alonzo felt tears pricking his eyes again, "He attacked Zephyr. He said he wanted to eradicate the zombies, a-and he tried to kill Zephyr first," he turned to the officer holding him in defeat, the first time he had admitted exactly what he had done out loud to them, "He tried to kill my boyfriend and I panicked. I took off my Z-band."

The officers glanced at one another. With Roz and Zach too shocked to protest anymore, they carried on leading him away. Somewhere in the crowd, Alonzo's dad had his hands clamped around Lindzey's shoulders, keeping her from running to her brother. His mom gently pushed Roz and Zach aside to confront the officers.

"You can't do this. He wasn't wearing his Z-band, he wasn't in his right mind, he didn't know wh-"

She was interrupted, "He just confessed to making the conscious decision to remove his Z-band, and that alone is an offence."

Alonzo locked eyes with his mother and his voice came out in a choked sob, "I'm sorry...!"

She reached out her hands to him but he was already being pulled away from her and she was left crying. The crowd of zombies swarmed Al as he was escorted to the van in the middle of the street and as he passed, their words hammered away at him. Some were rightfully, in his mind, angry but it seemed it hurt more to hear people trying to defend him.

"Do you have any idea what I went through because of you?" Inez shouted, storming along beside Al, "They don't treat us 'repeat offenders' so nice, y'know, and you're tellin' me it was you all along? You know how much trouble you got us into? Me, Riza, Topaz-"

"Don't bring me into this, Inez, I'm on his side!" Topaz grabbed Inez by the shoulder and turned her around, "Besides, didn't you hear what he said? Somebody tried to kill us! Look at the bigger picture, here, that should be the least of your worries."

Zeke stepped in the officer's way as the girls continued to argue, "She's right, he's not some criminal, he was defending himself and his boyfriend, and all of us! You can't take him away for that!"

"Zeke, don't..." Al mumbled.

And then there was Izabelle, muttering in disbelief, "You did it. You actually did it. For real."

In desperation, Zephyr broke free of Rizzo's grasp and pushed past the others to get to Al, right as the officers were opening the doors.

"Zephyr?"

"Al!" tears were streaming down Zephyr's face, "I'm sorry, I said I wouldn't let this happen, I said I was gonna keep you safe...!"

"Zeph, you couldn't have done anything to stop this."

Somehow, he kept his tone calm and level. Zephyr stood there, looking up at him for a second or two, then closed the gap between them and brought a hand to his face. But before their lips could meet, Alonzo was torn away from Zephyr and shoved into the van. The doors were slammed shut behind him.

"Wait, no...! No, Alonzo!" Zephyr banged against the door but was quickly pulled away by another officer. Rizzo hurried over and took hold of his arm. They watched, along with the other zombies, while the officers climbed into the front seats of the vehicle and began to drive away with Alonzo locked up in the back. Then he heard Inez's condescending voice coming from behind him and, though he didn't realise it, something in Zephyr's heart began to harden.

"And you knew about this. You knew he did it and you never said anything. In fact, I bet you been covering for him, haven't you?"

Zephyr refused to even face her, but his jaw was set and his hands balled into fists. Rizzo kept her hands on his shoulder and her eyes on Inez. When Zephyr didn't respond, Inez turned her attention to Rizzo.

"What about you, Riz? You been in on this, too?"

Rizzo's expression was cold and fierce, steadily meeting Inez's accusing gaze. She opened her mouth to speak but another voice from within the crowd suddenly made her lose focus, and made Zephyr turn around.

"Rizzo? _Did_ you know about this?"

"Zane, I-"

"That's why you were so out of it yesterday. You knew about this, and you never told me? I'm your best friend, we're supposed to tell each other everything! And you'd keep something this big from me?"

It was rare to see Zane so upset over anything and it hit Rizzo hard.

"This isn't about me, it's about Zephyr and Al, I couldn't do that to them...!" she tried to defend herself but Zane only shook his head and looked away, "Zane, I'm sorry, but this was way too serious, I couldn't tell _anybody_!"

He didn't answer. Instead, Inez threw up her arms, getting the attention of the whole crowd.

"So, what now? 'Cause you all know this is gonna change things. If one zombie can do it, any zombie can do it. The integration was all for nothing and now we're headed right back where we started."

Alonzo's voice echoed in Zephyr's head.

" _How much longer is it gonna be before everything goes back to the way it used to be?"_

He took one step closer to Inez and spat through gritted teeth, "Shut your mouth."

"Or what? You're gonna make me? You know I'm right," Inez shot him an almost cruel smile, "Imagine if Z himself was here to see this. Everything he stood for, and everything we fought for, down the drain. All 'cause of _your_ drakka garzi'ka-"

Zephyr snapped. Calling a human 'drakska' was one thing, but calling a zombie 'drakka' was enough to make anyone's blood boil.

"He _saved_ us!"

"He _ruined_ us!"

Rizzo interrupted, trying not to let Zane get to her, "Hey, we don't know that yet. We don't know _anything_ yet."

"Oh, I can think of one thing," Inez said, slowly looking from Rizzo to Zephyr, "Alonzo's not gonna last _one week_ in containment."

"What do you know?"

"I know what goes down in there. Hell, the place is practically my second home! But I've only ever been there for minor offences. Breaking curfew, leaving Zombie Town before we were allowed to, stirring up a little trouble from time to time, I never stayed for more than a day, but that boy just broke the golden rule," she stopped, obviously enjoying how Zephyr was seething, "He's gonna be in there for a long time, and you know better than anyone that he's too weak to-"

Zephyr flew towards her in a rage, startling the other zombies.

"You'll stop right there if you know what's good for you!"

Inez stepped up, ready for a fight, but Rizzo stood in between them and blocked their paths, her hand on her brother's chest.

"Zephyr, stop!"

"She has no right talking about him like that!"

"No, she doesn't," she shot Inez a harsh glare but she wasn't fazed in the slightest, "But you don't need to stoop to her level."

"Hey, _you_ got no business getting in the way!" Inez protested, "You keep babying him like that, he's never gonna learn to stand up for himself! Look what happened when he couldn't protect himself from a human."

Now Rizzo was mad.

"Alright, you know what Inez?"

Her voice was drowned out as the crowd of zombies began to buzz with more arguments and accusations, pointing fingers and placing the blame on whoever they saw fit. Zephyr was breathing hard, tears threatening to fall again, and he looked down the street. The patrol was gone. Alonzo was gone.

 _Alonzo was gone._

Everyone else was too distracted with the fight to notice him slip away. Everyone else, that is, but Roz and Zach. Zephyr was about to turn the corner onto the next block when Roz saw him and nudged Zach. With a single look at one another, they followed him, but neither one said a word until they were out of earshot of the others. He was hurting and it wouldn't do him any good if they attracted anymore unwanted attention.

"Zephyr!" Roz cried out once they were far enough away but he ignored them. They sighed and kept running after him with Zach right behind.

"Zeph, come on, just talk to us!" Zach tried.

"I don't want to talk!" Zephyr yelled back, not even turning around. His voice was shaking. He was almost at his house.

Roz softened, "You need to, though."

"No, I don't."

He skipped the steps and jumped straight into the porch.

"We just wanna he-"

Zach cut himself off when Zephyr swung around to face them and he and Roz both stopped. They'd never seen him crying like this. They'd never seen him look so angry. Or sound so angry, either.

" _I promised him I wouldn't let this happen!_ "

And with that, he flung open the front door and went inside, slamming it in their faces. Zach was on the porch in a flash but Zephyr had already locked them out. Roz joined him and they banged on the door.

"Zephyr, you can't just shut us out here!"

"We're on your side, Zeph. Please, we can talk about this!"

Zephyr didn't respond. He heard every word, though. He was curled up on the floor on the other side, his back to the door as he wept. He was alone. His friends were right there, only a couple of feet away from him, but he felt completely alone.

Roz and Zach eventually gave up on banging and shouting but they didn't leave. If Zephyr did come out, they'd be there for him. But soon Rizzo was there and they stood aside to let her through. She leaned her forehead against the door.

"Zephyr? Baby? It's Riz, let me in."

Zach whispered to Roz, "How does she know if he's still there?"

"Twin telepathy?" Roz shrugged.

"That's not a thi-" the door creaked open and Zephyr practically threw himself at his sister, crying into her shoulder, "I stand corrected, it's a thing."

Rizzo glanced back at them, "I'm sorry, guys," she said, hugging Zephyr close, "He needs some time."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

There was no question. The DNA found on the body was definitely his, and the patrol had already been suspicious of the warning on his Z-band when the timing didn't match up to when Zephyr had claimed they saw the human. His confession to removing his Z-band was the last piece of the puzzle they needed. But there were still factors; he had removed his Z-band of his own accord and killed someone as a result, and had even started to eat the body. But it was in self-defence, and a recent change to the law decreed a zombie could not be held _completely_ responsible for their actions without a functioning Z-band. On top of all that, he was still a minor at 16 years old. It all came back to his band, though, and the intent behind taking it off.

His sentence was a year in containment; six months in high security, six in low security. He was going to miss the entirety of his second year at Seabrook High.

The punishment went beyond that, though. His Z-band was locked – _completely_ locked. Physically locked onto his wrist, which was to be expected, but also technologically. He had virtually no use of the Z-band himself: no way to make calls or text, no internet connection, and he couldn't even operate it as normal himself. And what was worse was the shocks. The electromagnetic pulses were turned way up to electric shocks at regular intervals. He found it hard to move around freely or even just to think for the first few days until he got a little more used to it. But that didn't stop the pain of it. And, he was told, each of the zombies would also have their bands locked during their next mandatory Z-band check.

Alonzo knew for a fact Zephyr's Z-band check was coming up. They would be in the same building, and they both knew they wouldn't be able to see each other. On the day, Alonzo sat alone in his cell unable to think of anything but the fact that his boyfriend was somewhere in the facility, so near and yet so far away. He clenched his teeth through the shocks jolting him and tried to remember it wouldn't be much longer.

Zephyr would be able to come visit him soon. But that didn't feel soon enough.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.

Keira's coming into the story now! And Zach gets a Moment. But everything's still very sad. In fact, I almost cried writing the last scene. Let's do this

* * *

Chapter 5

Every one of the zombies was a nervous wreck on the first day back at school, and, as it turned out, with good reason. The news had spread quickly, just like Alonzo had predicted, and a lot of the human students were suddenly less willing to talk to them. Some at least had the decency to make excuses as to why they were turning away their former friends, but others refused to even speak to them, instead shuffling away and whispering among themselves. The way they had a year ago.

The patrol was there. It wasn't exactly unusual for an officer or two to be spotted around the school but there hadn't been this many on guard in months. And every zombie who entered the building was stopped to have their bands checked before they could go about their business.

Zephyr trailed along behind Zach and Roz, feeling far less confident than he usually did when Al had been by his side. He was barely listening to their conversation, though he picked up that it was something about Keira. Roz hadn't seen her girlfriend since before the incident; the patrol and hammered down on the restrictions on leaving or entering Zombie Town for the time being, until the case had been fully investigated, and what's more was neither of them had had much time to call or text the other. They had barely spoken over the last week. The three zombies came to a stop and Zephyr lifted his head just in time to see Keira shut her locker and turn around to face them. She seemed surprised for a split second.

"Keira...?" Roz took a step towards her, slightly unnerved by the lack of any readable expression on Keira's face until she came to wrap her arms around Roz's neck and kiss her lips before hugging her tightly. Roz relaxed in her arms but it was too much for Zephyr and he looked away, walking past them to his own locker.

He hadn't even been able to kiss Alonzo before he was snatched away from him. He didn't even get to say a proper goodbye. And their reunion wouldn't be for a long, long time.

"Zeph?" the sound of Zach's voice came from behind him and he threw him a brief look, "You doing OK?"

"I'll be fine," Zephyr went back to rifling through his locker. He wasn't even looking for anything, he just wanted a distraction.

Zach rolled his eyes and cocked his head, "That doesn't answer my question. I'm asking if you're fine right now, not if you'll _be_ fine."

"I don't know!" Zephyr sounded frustrated, and it surprised Zach. Before the incident, he had always been so calm and now it was like he could never find a moment of peace, "I'm stressed, I'm scared, I'm irritated, I haven't seen Alonzo in a week and now I'm back at school without him, how do you think I'm doing?"

"Pretty bad."

"You figure that out on your own?" The sarcasm was relatively normal for him, though.

Zach sighed, "They're gonna let him have visitors soon."

"Great, I'll get maybe an hour at a time to talk to my boyfriend through a window while he's in _zombie containment_."

Zach placed his hands on Zephyr's shoulders before he could go any further, "Zephyr, you need to chill! You can't do anything about this right now," he let him go and Zephyr looked down, chewing the inside of his cheek and avoiding looking Zach in the eye, "Come on, take a step back and find something to get your mind off of things. What about football tryouts?"

Zephyr was quiet for a moment, "... I'm kinda having second thoughts about that..."

"What? Why?"

"I dunno, man, I just... I can't pretend like there's nothing wrong."

"It's not pretending there's nothing wrong, it's _living your life_ ," Zach insisted but Zephyr said nothing, "Look, I know you love him but you're more than just Al's boyfriend. You can keep going to school and you can play football and still care about him."

Zephyr looked at him and eventually, the corner of his mouth quirked up, "Since when did you get smart?"

Zach gave a fake scoff and laughed, "Since always! Besides," he threw his arm around Zephyr's shoulder and leaned closer, "There'll be some hot guys on the football team you can introduce me to."

"Yeah? Good luck finding the ones who are not only into guys, but are single and would also still date a zombie."

Zephyr raised an eyebrow at him and Zach's eyes shifted to one side and back again, "... I can be very persuasive."

"Sure you can."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

After one more week, Zephyr was able to visit Alonzo. He knew he'd already had a visit from his mom (family went first, after all) and he had heard a thing or two from her about what Al was going through, but she hadn't wanted to go into much detail. She was obviously upset, and she had every right to be, but Zephyr couldn't help worrying even more because of it. If she was that shaken up by it, it definitely wasn't a good sign.

Zephyr was slipping on a jacket as he headed for the front door when Rizzo appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Hold up, where do you think you're going?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes, turning to face her as she came down.

"To visit Al."

"Alone?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh-uh, no way, you are not going anywhere on your own," Rizzo shook her head and pushed him away from the door, standing in his way, "You know how dangerous it is for us right now! Especially for you, people know you're dating Al, Zephyr," she went quiet, scared, even, "If they can't get to him, they could go after you."

He wasn't going to deny he had gotten more than a few dirty looks over the past week, but he wasn't about to let that stop him.

"So, what, I'm supposed to just never see my boyfriend for the next year?"

"I didn't say that. I said you're not going all the way across town to containment _on your own_."

"It's not like it'd be any better for you to come with me."

"Call one of your human friends to drive you! Just... be safe if you're gonna leave Zombie Town, OK?"

Zephyr looked down, his hands in his pockets, and shrugged as he lifted his head again.

"There's not a lot of humans I could still consider my friends."

He was exaggerating a little. There _was_ definitely still humans he could consider his friends, but part of him wasn't sure how far he could trust them not to turn on him soon. At the very least, he didn't think any of them would feel too comfortable being alone with a zombie on a car ride. He moved to slip past Rizzo but she stopped him by grabbing his arm and spinning him back around.

"I am not letting you out of this house unless you find somebody."

"Are you serious? Z, Riz, you're treating me like a little kid, we're the same age!"

"Do you see me goin' anywhere alone?" Rizzo asked, not even waiting for a reply, "No, I am staying right here and you are not getting past me until you find a ride."

Zephyr groaned and headed back upstairs as Rizzo leaned against the wall. What was he supposed to do? Who did he know, with a license, who definitely still got along with the zombies?

Ten minutes later, he was back downstairs and Rizzo, as promised, was still leaning on the wall, probably playing some game on her Z-band. Her eyes flickered up to look at him then back down to her band.

"Sure hope you found someone, Zeph."

"I'm meeting Keira at the barrier."

She turned off the screen and gave him her full attention, "Are you?"

" _Yes_ , Rizzo."

"I'm walking you there."

"You don't even trust me enough to walk to the barrier?"

"No."

She opened the door and gestured for him to go ahead of her. They reached the barrier, the guard gave them a quick once over and nodded, but when Zephyr went to take a single step out of Zombie Town, Rizzo grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him back.

"Not until I see Keira."

Zephyr sneered, " _Not until I see Keira!_ " he mocked, then mumbled under his breath, "Get over yourself..." Soon enough, though, a familiar car – Keira's mom's, if he remembered correctly – pulled up nearby and Zephyr shot Rizzo a sarcastic smile, "There, happy? Bye."

He was about to walk away when Rizzo hugged him and he semi-reluctantly hugged her back, "Be careful."

"I will."

Rizzo waited until the car pulled away to turn around and go back home.

"Hey," Zephyr said, climbing into the car, "Thanks for the ride, Keira, I think Rizzo might have locked me in my room if it wasn't for you."

"No problem," Keira replied shortly with just a brief glance at him and a tight-lipped smile. She drove off without another word.

The whole ride to the containment facility was quiet. At one point, Zephyr tried, a little awkwardly, to start a conversation, but Keira didn't seem up for talking. Which was strange. It had been Zephyr, after all, who had helped her and Roz get together back at the block party the year before. But then again, of the members of BFZ, she met Alonzo first. He was the reason she became friends with them.

"I'm sorry, Zeph," she said almost out of nowhere, "I just... I don't know what to say right now. I don't want to think about, and I'm pretty sure you don't either, but I don't want to... ignore it, you know?"

"It's fine," Zephyr said, needing the reassurance himself as well, "You don't need to get involved in this any further."

Neither of them said another word until they arrived and Keira finally spoke up.

"How long do you have with him?"

"An hour."

"I'll pick you up after."

With a small smile, he nodded, "Thanks."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

It was hard. Sitting so close to him when the glass window between them kept them from touching, and the phone they had to speak through distorted his voice. But, Zephyr reminded himself, it would be harder to not see him at all.

He had heard about the adjustments to Alonzo's Z-band, how he was being shocked as some cruel way to keep him 'under control' or whatever excuse the patrol had come up with. Seeing it was something else, though. His heart cracked a little more every time it happened.

"I don't see why they have to hurt you like this. You're not dangerous. The band's locked, nothing's going to happen."

"It's only while I'm under higher security," Al said, sounding tired, "They'll reset the pulses once I get transferred."

"That's not for another six months, though, Al!" Zephyr watched helplessly as Alonzo flinched again, gritting his teeth and hissing in pain, "You don't deserve this."

"Yes," Al met his eyes, "I do."

"How is shocking you going to do anything? You're online and you're stable, all it is is unnecessary punishment."

"Unnecessary? I killed somebody, Zephyr! How many times are you going to make me say it? I have to live with this."

"I'm sorry," Zephyr leaned forward on his elbows, unable to get as close to Alonzo as he really wanted to. All he wanted was to touch him. Touch his face, his hair, his lips... He had no idea that the last time he kissed Alonzo was going to be their last kiss for half a year. He would have savoured it more, "I'm sorry, I'm just so mad about everything. This never should have happened."

"So you're admitting it's not OK?"

"I'm admitting what you're going through is not OK."

Al scoffed and rolled his eyes, resting his chin in one hand, "Give it a rest! I'm sick of this, Zeph. Listen, I love you. And you have no idea how glad I am that you still love me too, but-"

"How could I _not_? I'd be dead if it hadn't been for you!"

"It's not as simple as that, you can't just let this slide! I did something terrible and I can't take it back. I've accepted that. The problem here is that _you_ don't want to admit you're dating a murderer. If you want me to be able to move past this, you gotta either move on with me or..."

Alonzo trailed off and looked down. Zephyr's heart sank.

"... Or what? Let you go on without me? Do you really want us to end like that?"

"No!" Al instinctively reached out to him only to be met with the cold, hard glass against his fingers, "That's not what I'm saying! I'm saying I want you to accept it. Just accept that all of this was my fault. I made the wrong decision. It'll last the rest of my life. And as long as we're together, it'll effect your life as well. But I need you to help me through this. I need my best friend and I need my boyfriend, Zeph."

"So do I. I need my boyfriend to know that he's not a bad person!"

"It's not about being a bad person. It's about making a bad decision."

Zephyr's eyes fell to the table. After a moment, he sighed and nodded.

"And you did."

"So we're on the same page."

"Can..." Zephyr rubbed his eyes, urging himself not to cry, "Can we talk about something else?"

Alonzo paused. He had to try not to tear up as well. One of them had to stay strong for the sake of the other.

"... Did you try out for football?"

"... Yeah."

"And?"

"And I made it. Halfback."

The smallest, softest smile tugged on the corner of Al's mouth, "I knew you would."

But Zephyr shook his head, biting his lip.

"It feels wrong, though. What's the point when you're not gonna be there to see me play?"

"Zephyr, I can't be your only reason for doing things! Play because you've wanted to play since you started going to Seabrook High. You _can_ now, why would you pass that up? I'm proud of you, baby," that rare word made Zephyr perk up. His eyes locked with Al's and he could see that pride glistening there, and all the love in the world, as he encouraged him, "You're gonna crush it and I wanna hear all about it."

After a few seconds, Zephyr slowly nodded, "For you."

"For yourself."

" _For you._ "

If Al wanted him to play, he was going to play, even if it felt like something was missing. Whatever Alonzo wanted. Whatever it took to keep that light in his eyes.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

The front door slammed shut and Zephyr went straight to his room, his footsteps loud and heavy on the stairs. He closed his door and leaned back on it, bringing his hands to his mouth in an attempt to muffle the sob that escaped from his throat. He couldn't cry now. His parents were at work but he knew his sister would be there to ask questions and within five seconds, he heard her knocking.

"Not now, Riz!"

If she hadn't heard his sobbing, his thick and shaky voice definitely gave it away.

"You sure? 'Cause it sounds like you need to get something off your chest."

"Leave me alone."

She came in anyway, forcing him away from the door.

"You are crying in your bedroom after visiting your boyfriend in containment, you think I'm gonna _leave you alone_?"

"Get out."

He glared at her and stormed over to his bed, collapsing onto it and burying his face in his pillow. Rizzo remained still, looking at him sympathetically.

"Do you really want me to?"

Zephyr turned over, sat up and threw the pillow at her, which she caught. Her expression didn't change.

"You're not going to help. I need Alonzo..."

"You saw him, didn't you?"

"I had to talk to him through a sheet of glass. I need him holding me," he sniffed, "I need him _here_."

It hurt Rizzo to see her brother like this. She came to sit beside him and pulled him into a hug. He tried to push her off but she refused to let go.

"It's not the same."

He couldn't even look her in the eye.

"I know, baby, but it's the best I can do."

He gave in almost instantly, wrapping his arms around her neck, "His Z-band's shocking him, Riz. They're _shocking_ him and I can't do anything about it...! He doesn't deserve that, he's not a criminal, he's the most selfless person I know. He saved my life and they've locked him away and _they're shocking him_ for it."

Rizzo said nothing. What could she possibly say? All she could do was be there to listen and offer him whatever comfort she could give.

"He shouldn't be there. He should be singing and playing music and goofing off with Zach a-and telling Lindzey to shut up..." he laughed through his tears, "And he should be with me. He should be here with me right now, like he always has been."

For a short while after that, the only sounds were Zephyr's crying and Rizzo's soothing murmurs. Eventually, Zephyr's breathing began to even out.

"I don't think I can do this for a whole year..."

Rizzo finally answered.

"Don't give up yet. Al's gonna need you just as much as you need him."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't. The songs Sometimes, Me With No You and I'm Gay are all by Bowling For Soup.

This... is a long chapter. About 6000 words. Twice as long as any previous chapter. But there is a lot to get through in this one so.

Over the next week I'm gonna be getting out as many Limelights as I can, I need to get a few things set up in time for the 17th when some special stuff will be starting for Christmas~

* * *

Chapter 6

He was trying so, _so_ hard not to give up.

An entire month had passed since the first time Zephyr had visited Alonzo in containment, and he had been back again a few times since then, but it never seemed to be any different. The shocks still pained him, though he tried to hide it, and Zephyr would keep insisting that it wasn't right. He told him every detail about being on the football team; games, practice, every little thing, and although Al no longer grinned like he used to, there was always the faintest glimmer of joy in his eyes. _That_ was what kept Zephyr going. But then as soon as he left the containment facility, he felt empty. Completely dead inside. Keira never said a word the whole ride to the facility and back to Zombie Town, and neither did he. One time, Roz and Zach joined him and even then, the journey was strangely awkward.

After the latest visit, Zephyr once again shut himself in his bedroom and this time, Rizzo wasn't there to vent his frustrations to. It hadn't taken too long for Zane to forgive her and the two were on good terms again, which meant she was hanging out at the cauli-brains stand like she used to. So what else could Zephyr do now?

He was sitting in silence, looking around the room, and his eyes fell on his guitar. He'd barely touched it since Al was arrested. Alonzo was the whole reason Zephyr had decided to pick up the guitar in the first place – a fact that still remained his own personal secret, even now. Al was always singing, and Zephyr wanted to be able to play music for him. Maybe playing now would help a little. He stood to pick up the guitar and threw the strap over his shoulder. For a while, he just sat and strummed random chords but eventually, he wanted to play song that reminded him of Al. That might help him think of happier times. Of course, the first song that came to mind was _Sometimes_. That was _their_ song. Or, well, one of them. More specifically, it was Zephyr's song for Alonzo.

" _You've got me under your thumb, sometimes I feel so dumb, you put a smile on my face, but only sometimes..._ "

That was certainly true as of late. There were times – very short times – when Zephyr could smile at the thought of Alonzo but it never lasted. He played through the first verse and pre-chorus easily enough, balanced somewhere between feeling nostalgic and feeling lost without his muse. Then...

" _Sometimes, it's not the things you say, sometimes you're just in the way, sometimes I feel like I can't live without y-_ "

He choked and dropped the neck of the guitar, the weight of it suddenly heavy on his shoulder, and his hand came up to his mouth. Maybe trying to play something meant to be happy wasn't the way to go. He took a moment to let himself cry, wiped his eyes, and sat up again. Honestly, he probably needed to just cry for a bit, without anything or anyone to make any kind of input. Just to let it out in one go. He was adamant that he would keep playing, though. It had always been relaxing in the past, it was just a matter of choosing the right song.

 _Me With No You_. Now, that would be cathartic.

" _I'm not lost, I just haven't found everything I need, I'm not torn, I'm just getting it together..._ "

He closed his eyes, letting his muscle memory take over.

" _I'm not broken, don't you mind the pieces of me you see scattered on the ground, I swear I'll turn this thing around._ "

He felt new tears in his eyes and had to tell himself to keep going.

" _I'm not home, but I'm sitting here in my room. I'm a photograph in need of a zoom. I feel far away, I can't make out the face. It's all blurred since you went away..._ "

This song was a little too perfect for the situation and Zephyr bit back a sob. He tried a few other songs but he could never get more than a verse into it before giving up. Pretty much everything he knew was by Bowling For Soup, and they were Alonzo's favourite band, and all the songs they listened to and played and sang _together_.

He tipped his head back and groaned, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes. He moved his hands only for his vision to blur with tears and he blinked them away. He guessed music wasn't going to be an option. So much for that. A little further down the line, he might be able to pick up his guitar again, but for now, it would stay tucked away in its case. And he still felt terrible. He needed to talk to Roz.

The walk through town cleared his head enough to figure out how to explain his thoughts and he trusted that Roz would have some decent advice, if he could just remind himself to hear her out. As he approached her house, however, Zephyr froze at the sound of a familiar song, and two familiar voices singing, coming from an open window upstairs. Roz's room.

" _We all sympathise with your torn-apart heart and your really artistic worldly views. It sells records when you're sad these days, it's super cool to be mad these days. I think rock and roll is really funny when it's serious!_ "

Normally, he'd be singing along the second he heard it, but this didn't feel any better than when he was playing alone. Zephyr walked up to the front door and knocked. Roz's dad let him in and he hurried up the stairs.

"What do you think you're doing?" Zephyr barged into the room to find Roz at their drum kit and Zach with his bass. They both stopped, Roz pausing the track playing in the background, and looked up at him in shock.

"Zeph, what are you doing here?" Roz frowned, getting up from behind the kit.

His eyes were cold as he stared down at them, "I was gonna come talk to you. 'Cause I have been _trying_ to get on with my life and nothing is working, I was sitting in my room with my guitar for _hours_ and I couldn't play anything 'cause it all reminds me of him and every song... _hurts_ , and you two," he paused, gesturing to their instruments almost accusingly, "You're here playing _his song_ like it doesn't even matter."

Zach glanced back at Roz but they had no response. He turned to Zephyr again with an awkward laugh, "I think it's Bowling For Soup's song, Zeph..."

"You know what I mean," Zephyr snapped and took a step closer, "That's Al's favourite song."

"Yeah, and it's one of my favourites too," Roz defended, "And Zach's. _And yours_."

"Why are you playing that?"

"Why wouldn't we? Do you think we're gonna completely stop playing just 'cause he's not here?"

"I'd think it was obvious the band's on hiatus without him."

Putting aside his bass, Zach rolled his eyes, "We're not playing as a band, it's just the two of us. Can't we have a little fun? You didn't have a problem if we got together to jam without you before."

"Alonzo wasn't in containment before."

They all went quiet for a moment or two.

"You can't tell us we can't play music at all."

Zephyr sighed, "Maybe I can't, but I don't understand why you would want to play a song that's so... _him_... when he's not here. I could barely get through _Sometimes_ , how do you not feel wrong?"

Roz suddenly decided they were sick of him, "Oh, my Z, Zephyr, are you seriously so stuck on feeling sorry for yourself all the time that you can't even let us enjoy ourselves anymore? You're acting like this is some kind of major betrayal to him!" her voice was rising more and more as she drew closer to him. He stood his ground while Zach was getting increasingly concerned by Roz's unexpected rant, "You ever stop to think that maybe you're not the only one who's trying to cope with this? He's our friend! We care about him too! We miss him! So let us deal with it how we want to."

"He's _my_ boyfriend."

"And what, that means you get to tell us what to do? I never asked you to come here, Zephyr. I knew you wouldn't want to, because _I know you_. I was trying to be considerate. Don't blame me for wanting to give you some space."

He didn't have any kind of comeback to that. He stood for a moment, then turned and walked out, "Fine. Do whatever you want. I don't care."

He could always throw himself into playing football instead.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

It was getting near to two months into his sentence and Alonzo was waiting impatiently for his mom to arrive for her regular visit. When she finally did, though, what caught his attention was the shorter zombie beside her. They both sat down in front of him, his mother picking up the phone and holding it between them, so they could both speak with him.

"Lindzey?" Al looked from her to his mother in surprise, "Mom, why would you let her come here?"

"Dad didn't want me to come, either," Lindzey told him and he raised an eyebrow.

" _Gaz_ , Dad was right about something?" he fake-gasped.

"Would you really want to not see your little sister for the whole time you're locked up in here?"

Alonzo looked down at Lindzey with sad eyes, "I didn't want you to have to see me in here," he turned back again and hissed, "Mom, seriously, bringing an 11 year old into zombie containment?"

" _Almost_ 12..."

"What about a 16 year old in containment? You're both just kids. Neither of you should be in here."

"Mom, I kil-" he hesitated, quickly glancing at Lindzey again.

"You can say it," she said in a small voice, trying to sound brave, "I'm not a baby anymore, I'm old enough to understand."

"Lin, you shouldn't _have_ to understand this. I did something horrible. I'm the first zombie in _decades_ to actually kill and eat a person. Now we're back to square one."

"It's not as bad as you think, Alonzo. The patrol recognises this as a lapse in judgement and a rare occurrence," his mom said but he didn't believe her for a second, "Schools in Seabrook are still open to zombies, they haven't brought the uniforms back..."

"Curfew's back to 8 o'clock, though," muttered Lindzey and her mother placed a hand on her arm.

"Yes, but that's more so that if another human tries the same thing, none of us will be out in the open."

"And there's a smaller chance that anyone else will do what I did?"

"Al, honey, don't-"

"That's the real reason for it. Why deny it? Why does everybody keep trying to shield me away from everything? I'm the one who did it! I had the first-hand experience, did you all forget that?" he furrowed his brow, staring at them both in disbelief, "Zephyr and the others are keeping me updated on things and I know there's humans already trying to turn everything around. Sure, they're still in school but that doesn't mean they're safe there anymore. It's only been a couple of months. And what about the Z-bands? They're all getting locked because the patrol can't trust zombies to _not_ take them off, when I'm the only on who's ever even _tried_! It's all my fault."

"Alonzo Morgan, you cannot keep blaming yourself like this. Someone came into our town wanting to kill all of us. That was not your fault. The patrol's treatment of other zombies is not your fault either. You have no control over any of it. You're already suffering enough in here, you don't need to be any harder on yourself," she looked him up and down, her expression growing worried, "You're still so pale..."

"I'm _supposed_ to be pale."

"You're supposed to be _grey_. You are _white_. And have you lost weight...?" Al shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny, "They are feeding you properly in here, aren't they? Are you eating alright?"

" _Yes_ , Mom."

Lindzey squinted at him, "Are you?"

"I don't need _you_ interrogating me, Lin."

She was barely listening, "You're doing that thing."

"What thing?"

"That half truth thing. Maybe you are eating, but there's something else wrong."

"Alonzo?"

"I'm _fine_! As fine as I can be in this place."

"See? So you're not really fine."

Al scoffed, "Whatever. The point is-"

"Now you're changing the subject."

" _Shut up_ ," he ignored his mom's sharp look, "The point is this is only the beginning. The guys told me the zombie patrol's everywhere now. Don't you think that's a bad sign? Officers just... swarming all over Seabrook like when the integration first started? Except now it's not just one school. Even the little kids are having to walk around with officers following their every move!" he gestured at Lindzey but she didn't react. Not even to 'little kids'. Al paused, taking in how she had slumped forward, her eyes down. It was the word 'school' that had done it, "... You're awfully quiet all of a sudden."

"No, I'm not." Lindzey folded her arms on the table and Alonzo frowned.

"Yeah, you are. What's up?"

No response, just a slight eye roll. He turned to his mom and raised an eyebrow, looking more than a little worried.

"I don't know what's going on with her. She won't say anything to me or your father, all she told us is that it isn't about you," they both watched Lindzey as she tried to avoid their combined gaze, "Maybe she'll talk to you if I leave you alone for a minute or two."

"Mom...!" Lindzey suddenly seemed nervous and Alonzo's heart dropped.

"Lindzey, if you're scared, I get i-"

"I'm not!" she whipped back round to face him, her eyes wide and almost desperate, "I swear I'm not, Al, really, it's just..." her voice trailed off into a small whine.

Their mother pushed her seat back, "Look, even if you don't want to talk about that, you two should have some time together. I'll be right outside."

She headed for the door and disappeared from view. Alonzo took a breath.

"So?"

Lindzey's eyes fell to the table in front of her. She rested her chin in her hand and let it cover her mouth.

"Lin?" Al's tone was somewhere between a question and a warning. Eventually she mumbled something into her hand, still refusing to meet his eyes. Alonzo groaned internally but lowered his voice and leaned forward.

"Lin, tell me."

She looked at him, only for a second, then sighed and put her arm down. She hung her head in shame.

"There's these kids at school bullying me..."

"The school year's barely started...! And it's your first year at the humans' school," it dawned on him quicker than most things and he closed his eyes, "This _is_ actually about me, isn't it?"

"... Maybe?"

His head still tipped forward, Alonzo's eyes flickered up to look at her in doubt.

"Kinda... Yeah..." she nodded slightly, "... They heard you were my brother."

Al dropped his head into his hands, "I'm ruining everything..." he muttered and Lindzey cringed.

"It gets worse. The man you..." her voice faded to a whisper, "Killed...?"

Al lifted his head, terrified to hear where this was going, "Y-yeah?"

"He has, well, _had_ a daughter. And she goes to my school."

"And she found you." It was a statement, not a question, but Lindzey nodded and bit her lip.

Great Z... Alonzo hadn't even let himself think about the human. He didn't want to, he already felt guilty enough as it was, but a daughter? In middle school? Maybe there wouldn't be much hope in any adult family members of his would have changed their zombie-hating ways whether or not he'd been killed, but a child still had room to grow and learn. She could've outgrown any ideas her father might have put into her head, but now Alonzo had given her a reason to permanently fear zombies. And she was taking it out on his little sister.

"... What does she do...?" he asked after a long silence, "Is she beating you up? Spreading rumours? Insulting you to your face? What?"

"She keeps saying I could... do it, too. She acts all scared if I get a little mad or if I even touch my Z-band."

"Your band's already been locked."

"I told her that, she doesn't care."

"Is she getting the other kids in on it?"

"Her friends, yeah. And, I mean, they pick on the other zombie kids, but..."

"It's worse for you."

He didn't look at her. He couldn't. Not until she spoke again and he heard how her voice was trembling.

"You can't do anything about it, Al," he could tell she was trying not to cry, "Besides, it's not your fault if she can't-"

"It _is_ my fault that she's attacking you," Alonzo said, his face almost touching the glass, sad but calm, "If it wasn't for me, she wouldn't have any reason to. Blame me for it. _Please_ , Lin, blame me, because it's like nobody is blaming me for anything that's happened lately when it's all on me. It just makes me feel worse that everyone keeps trying to sugarcoat it and act like I didn't do anything wrong."

She couldn't hold back the tears any longer, "I don't want to bl-blame you! I've been blaming you for so m-many stupid little things my entire life and..." she sniffed and rubbed her eye, "And I don't want this to be the one serious thing. I don't want it to be real...!"

Alonzo couldn't do anything but watch as his baby sister cried, her face pressed against her folded arms on the table in front of her. It wasn't surprising that he was soon crying, too.

"I'm sorry, Lin," he shook his head, "I'm so, so sorry..."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

It was getting so close to their first anniversary. One full year. One year since Zephyr first told Al he liked him. One year since Al called Zephyr his boyfriend for the first time. One year since their very first kiss.

 _And just look how we're gonna be spending it..._ Zephyr couldn't help thinking to himself.

He and Roz (and Zach, by extension) had made up a couple of days after their argument. They were both dealing with a lot right now and each understood why the other got so intensely worked up over just playing music. But that didn't mean everything was better now, and it was obvious to everyone. At school, he was starting to fall behind, showing up late a lot and on one or two occasions, not at all. Answering back, shoving people around, whatever little impulses he chose to act on. The only thing he actually put any effort into anymore was football.

As Zephyr walked down the hall alone one day, he passed by a group of humans and overheard part of their conversation.

"No, like, he _meant_ to do it. He took his Z-band off. Intentionally. So he definitely meant to kill him."

"That's scary. That's _really_ scary. And he goes to this school. What if he did that here?"

"What if any of them did? They always try to! You know when they reach for their Z-bands but then someone always stops them? They say they're kidding but then why stop them?"

"They don't even trust each other not to do it. And that guy – that Morgan kid. He is the dumbest person I've ever met. I'm not surprised he was the first to go for it."

Zephyr had heard enough.

Hey!" he came closer, "That's my boyfriend you're talking about."

One pulled a face, one rolled her eyes, another looked him up and down and the last gaped at him.

"And you're still _with_ him?"

That triggered the others to start making comments.

"What makes you any better than him?"

"Yeah, you should be locked up, too. You're just as bad, defending him."

"He's a _threat_. You're all threats to human lives, you shouldn't even still be allowed to come to school here!"

It just kept coming. He tried not to react, to just brush it off. At least they were directing it at him now, instead of Al. But he was reaching the boiling point now. Zephyr felt his eye twitch and clenched his teeth, his fist gripping the strap of his backpack. He told himself to just walk away, and that's just what he was doing when one of the guys shouted something he couldn't ignore.

"We'd all be better off if he just let the guy live."

Zephyr stopped in his tracks and spun around, fixing the human who had just spoken with a steely gaze, "And let the zombies be wiped out?"

"Exactly. Starting with your psycho boyfriend."

Zephyr saw red instantly and lunged at him without a second thought. His hands went straight for the human's neck and someone shouted from further down the hall, " _Fight!_ "

Soon the students were rushing to see the action, more humans than zombies, but Izabelle was among them cheering Zephyr on as he tightened his grip. Zeke had to hold her back before she could run to join in herself. The second human who had shouted at him grabbed Zephyr from behind to pull him off his friend, taking hold of his wrists to pry him off. In his blind rage, Zephyr turned and swung a fist the moment the human let go, connecting with his jaw and sending him stumbling backwards. By now, the first human had caught his breath, though he was still rubbing his neck in pain, and was just standing there, staring.

"You see? This is why zombies shouldn't be allowed anywhere near humans!" he yelled and Zephyr, panting and almost snarling, even, shot him a fierce look, "This is why we need to just get rid of you all!"

In barely a second, Zephyr had dragged him forward by his collar. Now, the boy stared back at him in pure fear and he hissed under his breath, "You wanna say that again, _drakska_?" he moved his hands so his nails dug into the human's shoulders, his zombie strength kicking in, and his Z-band started to beep. The other boy tried once more to pull him off but Zephyr jabbed an elbow into his chest and threw the one in his grasp to the floor. He groaned in pain on impact and rolled onto his side, only for Zephyr to kick him. Hard. He wasn't even thinking at this point. They believed Alonzo deserved all the pain he was going through. They believed he was dangerous – that all zombies were dangerous. It didn't occur to him that maybe he was just proving their point in their eyes. He just kicked him again. And again. And again...

It wasn't much longer before Mr Zeck came round the corner and saw what was happening. A handful of other students, including Zed, had appeared as well and watched as the zombie teacher tried to break up the fight, but it was no use, Zephyr refused to back down no matter what. He only stopped when he heard Principal Lee's voice behind him.

"Zephyr. Styx. My office, right now."

Zephyr turned to look at her. She stood tall in front of him, hands on her hips, foot tapping and eyes blazing. His face was blank as he stared back at her and his band's beeping ceased. One of the human students went to speak but he silenced them with a sharp glare.

" _Zephyr_. Now."

He gave in and followed her, but not before casting his gaze over the crowd that had gathered and curling his lip at them.

The few zombies there huddled together, eyeing the humans nervously. Zeke took Izabelle's hand.

"We better go find Roz."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

Zephyr wasn't the type to get in serious trouble often. His experience with the zombie patrol was limited to crashed zombie mashes and other times when he was just part of a group. He didn't normally get into fights. And he certainly had never been called to the principal's office. Now he sat outside, waiting, still with anger bubbling inside him. Principal Lee had told him to stay there while she made a call and a few minutes later, someone else appeared outside the door. Zephyr looked up and frowned in confusion.

"Coach?"

The man sighed and shook his head, clearly disappointed, "I never expected this from you, Zephyr."

"What are you doing here?"

The coach said nothing and simply gestured to the door of the office. Zephyr stood, suddenly feeling anxious. The coach knocked three times then pushed open the door and let Zephyr in ahead of him.

"Sit down, please, Zephyr," Principal Lee nodded to the chair opposite her and he obeyed, then she quickly turned to the coach, "Thank you for coming. I don't think we'll be too long here. Now, Zephyr, your behaviour lately-"

"I'm sorry. They... they were saying things and I got man and-"

"I understand you've been through something rather traumatic," she said carefully and Zephyr was stunned. _Traumatic?_ "But since the... _incident_ with Alonzo, your behaviour has gotten worse and worse and today it came to a head. So, I'm forced to step in."

"Step in how...?"

The coach looked down for a second or two, knowing he had to say something he wished he didn't. He lifted his head again.

"Zephyr, you are hereby suspended from the football team."

 _What?_

"For how long?"

The coach shrugged, "Indefinitely."

"Until we see signs of real improvement," Principal Lee stated.

"B-but..." Zephyr scrambled to find some excuse, "W-we're halfway through the season-"

"And _you_ will not be playing," she offered him what was probably meant to be a sympathetic smile and her tone shifted, "And because it's clear all of this is in response to your emotional trauma, you will be spending what time you _would_ have spent on football with the school counsellor."

He gaped at her, "You're making me see a counsellor?"

 _What trauma?_

"Yes."

And that was that.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

Zephyr stormed down the hallway, both humans and zombies jumping out of his way as he did. Zed was the only one who didn't seem afraid of him right now. Instead, he watched him pass by and then, after a moment of deliberation, Zed chased after him.

"Whoa, hey, Zephyr! Wait up!"

Zephyr turned around with a roll of his eyes, "What do you want, Zed?"

"I want to know what happened back there! And what did Principal Lee say to you?" he demanded and Zephyr huffed, "This has got something to do with Alonzo, hasn't it?"

" _Everything_ in my life has got something to do with Alonzo."

He tried to keep walking but Zed blocked his path.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. But that's not a reason to get into a fight like that," all he got in response was a blank stare, "Come on, what's going on?"

"You know exactly what's going on."

"You need to get your mind off of this and take a break. In a few months, they'll loosen the security on him and you can see him face-to-face. Then before you know it, he'll be back home! Just be patient."

Zephyr cocked his head, one hand gripping the strap of his backpack and the other hanging loosely by his side. Zed started to feel somehow uncomfortable under his gaze.

"What are you trying to do here, Zed?" Zephyr asked, a little bit condescendingly, "Cheer me up? 'Cause no offence, man, but you kinda suck at it."

"Zeph-"

"Listen," his voice was flat, "I almost _died_. My boyfriend is in _jail_ for protecting me. People are turning on him. I got suspended from the football team for defending him."

Zed was surprised, "You're suspended?"

"Sure am, so good luck with the rest of the season! The only other outlet I had was music and I can't even play anything without it reminding me of him. You remember what it was like when they kept you in containment for, like, what a few days? If that? Well, Alonzo still has _months_ left to serve."

"It could be so much worse, though! At least we're still in school! At least he'll be coming back to school once he gets released."

"Who knows where we'll be when he gets released? This isn't the same as homecoming last year, Zed. Alonzo is in real serious trouble right now. People hate him. Not just humans, zombies hate him too. Because the humans are taking it as a reason to control us again," he paused, biting his lip and just catching himself before he cried, "I've barely seen him smile since it happened, Zed. You think you can say anything to me right now that could help? Unless you can turn back time or erase memories, nothing is going to work."

For a second, Zed hesitated. Then he spoke, his voice low and his face apologetic, "If this is screwing you up that bad, maybe you need to bre-"

" _Break up?_ " Zephyr gave an eerily fake laugh before his expression darkened, "Don't tell me how to live my life, Zed. Al and I need each other now more than ever."

Zed's eyes had widened and he tried to explain himself, "I was just-"

Zephyr held up his hands, "I don't wanna hear it. Why don't you go on back to your garzi'ska, huh?" he tipped his head a little, wearing a mocking smile and putting on an overly-cheerful tone, "And your perfect little relationship that brought everyone together," his face fell again, "Sorry to ruin all your hard work."

He started to walk away but Zed grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn around.

"Hey, you don't have to take it out on me! My slate's not exactly clean either."

Zephyr locked eyes with him, taking his time to answer.

"Don't even try comparing the homecoming game to what Al went through. Or he might not be the only one to really lose his band."

With that, Zephyr finally left Zed speechless and continued on down the hall, but it was then that Roz, along with Zach, showed up. She took one look at Zed's face and was ready for the worst.

"What happened?

"I-I don't know, he just..." Zed could only stare after him, talking more to himself than to Roz, "I never thought he'd say something like that..."

"Like what?" Zach asked him and got no answer.

"Zed?" Roz put a hand on his arm and shook him, "You good?"

That seemed to stir him out of it and Zed quickly nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm good."

Roz repeated her first question, "What happened?"

"Zeke didn't...?"

She shrugged, "He just said Zephyr went crazy."

"He got into a pretty serious fight with some humans, something to do with Al, and apparently Principal Lee suspended him from the football team for it," Zed explained then gestured down the hall towards Zephyr, who was getting further and further out of sight, "But I don't know why he's so mad about it, I've never seen him like that."

"Roz, you gotta talk to him," Zach said, shaking his head.

"What? Why me?"

"He listens to you."

"He sure didn't listen last time," she mumbled but Zach was still looking at her. She sighed, "Fine."

She walked away, giving both of the boys a look of irritation, then started to run when Zephyr was about to disappear from view. Zed let out a long breath and raised his eyebrows at Zach.

"That guy has some _serious_ issues."

"Trust me, I know."

Roz had nearly caught up with him

"Zephyr!" he ignored their calls, " _Zephyr!_ " until they were finally right behind him. He didn't stop, though.

" _What?_ "

"What is going on with you? You're picking fights with humans now?"

His face twisted into a mixture of sad, angry and guilty.

"They were talking about Al."

"... And that's your excuse?"

He came to a halt and turned to face her, "It was bad, Roz," the sadness took over and his voice shook, just enough to notice, "It was really bad. No-one gets to talk about _my_ garzi'ka like that."

Her tone turned more gentle and sympathetic, "I know. But you're only making it harder on yourself. You've lost football now, so that's one less thing to distract you. You're running out."

Zephyr groaned, "I don't want distractions, I want Alonzo."

"Well, that's not gonna happen."

He didn't say a word. Instead, he kept walking, slower now, and Roz matched his pace beside him.

"... I have to see a counsellor..." His voice was so quiet, and he sounded embarrassed.

"Yeah, maybe you need it."

"I don't need it. I need-"

"Yeah, yeah, you need Al, I got it. But Al's not here and you're gonna fall off the deep end if you don't find a better way to deal with this," she told him and Zephyr hummed vaguely, not wanting to admit she was right. She took a few seconds to study him closely, "You know, you always do this thing where you bottle everything up and deny that you have any kind of feelings."

"What? No, I don't." So defensive.

Roz laughed dryly, "Exhibit A, you wouldn't admit you even liked Al for at least a year. But you admitted it and you got a boyfriend out of it."

"A boyfriend in jail."

"Zephyr," they gripped his arms and it didn't take much force to get him to stop. They looked him in the eyes, "There's something wrong with you. And it's only gonna get worse if you don't deal with it now."

"You think there's something _wrong_ with me?"

"Look at yourself!" she stepped back, gesturing to him, "You don't get mad like this, you don't get into fights, you stay calm, you laugh things off and you _think_. You haven't been doing a lot of thinking lately."

"So you're against me now, too?"

"Against y- See, this is what I'm talking about. This isn't you. And you're starting to scared me," backing away again, Roz kept her eyes locked on Zephyr's, unusually cold, "So do something about it."

She turned around and was gone.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

He pretended everything was fine whenever he went to see Al, but the truth was he was breaking down. Rizzo couldn't handle him. Roz and Zach couldn't handle him. Not even the school counsellor could handle him. He had to make everything difficult.

No music. No football. No (or very little) Alonzo. He'd lost all of his usual emotional outlets and wasn't about to take advice from someone who didn't even know him. Especially not someone who claimed he was traumatised. If anyone, it was Al who had been traumatised. Al deserved the special care and treatment and help. Not him. He didn't want it. But apparently that was all part of it. He was in denial. He was projecting his pain onto someone else. He was taking it out on those around him.

He got up in the middle of a session one day.

"I'm _sick_ of people telling me how I feel! I don't need this, I don't need to be here, I need Alonzo back home in Zombie Town and that's _all_ I need!"

He stormed out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.

Well, last week was a wild ride, wasn't it? Back to regular-sized chapters now

Christmas fics are coming starting tomorrow, with a mix of canon and BG characters~

* * *

Chapter 7

Two months. He lasted two months in counselling. Two months before he _completely_ gave up. He had already been showing up late and walking out of sessions, but now he was done. Roz, as usual, was there to be his voice of reason, since clearly he didn't have one of his own anymore.

"He's not gonna be happy, Zeph."

"He hasn't been happy for a long time."

"You know what I mean. About quitting counselling."

He glanced at her and looked down, ashamed, "Roz, he doesn't know I was _in_ counselling."

" _What?_ You didn't tell him?"

"Hell, I didn't even tell him about the fight!"

"And I guess that means he thinks you're still on the team, too?" she asked and he pretended not to hear, "Didn't he want to hear about all that?"

Zephyr groaned in frustration and threw his arms up, "It's not like he understands anything about it! He only cares about it 'cause I care about it! I can tell him anything, he won't know the difference and he won't ask questions."

Roz stood with her mouth hanging open. It took her a while to find the words to say, "So you're just making things up to tell him and you think you'll be fine? He won't know the difference, how can you even say that? He's your _boyfriend_ , you love him, don't you?"

"Of course I do, that's why I don't want to tell him! I don't want to hurt him anymore. If he found out I was fighting over him..."

"So you're just gonna play him like that? You're lying to him, Zephyr. You're keeping something serious from him. I'm pretty sure you haven't kept a single secret from Al for as long as you've been a couple. And when you were friends, the only secret you kept was that you liked him," she gave him a hard stare, "Don't start now. You're already on thin ice."

He kept walking past her, not listening when she shouted at him to stop, but her words burrowed deep in his mind and stayed there. He already felt guilty enough, why did she have to add to it?

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

 _SIX MONTHS AGO - SEPTEMBER_

 _For the first time, Keira felt uncomfortable sitting with the rest of the cheer squad in the cafeteria. She felt so out of place. Roz was with Zephyr and Zach, distracted with trying to comfort Zephyr as best they could. Her heart went out to him. She knew him well enough by now to know how important Alonzo was to him. He was practically Zephyr's whole world, and he had been for years. It couldn't be easy to be torn apart out of nowhere and be told they couldn't see each other, at least not until visiting hours were open. Still, if she went to join them, she'd feel wrong there, as well. She couldn't understand what all of this meant to the zombies. She was human. She had no idea what it was like. She had no idea what they could be experiencing because of this, or what Al could be experiencing in containment._

 _The whole room was buzzing with gossip and rumours. Everyone had heard by now that a zombie had killed and eaten a human, but far too many of them didn't have the full story. Keira, however, was close to the situation. Uncomfortably close. And it was weighing on her._

" _Zed!" Addison's voice called from nearby – the next table over – and Keira looked up as Zed, Eliza and Bonzo joined her and Bree. Addison and Bree both hugged their boyfriends tightly as soon as they were close enough and Keira felt a twinge of jealousy, but she kept watching. They wouldn't have seen each other in the past week, like she hadn't seen Roz. And she suspected they might not have been able to talk much, either._

" _What is going on?" Addison asked, "I tried asking my dad but he said everything's classified! He won't even tell me who did it!"_

 _Zed let out a small sigh and looked away, as did Eliza, while Bonzo held onto Bree, his face blank and his chin resting on top of her head. After a short silence, Zed finally spoke._

" _It was Al."_

" _Al?" Bree suddenly sat up, accidently jerking Bonzo away, "Alonzo Morgan?"_

 _Keira bit her lip at the reminder. Yes. Alonzo Morgan. Her friend._

 _Bonzo's eyes dropped to his lap and Bree reached out to squeeze his hand in comfort. All of BFZ were close friends with Bonzo and he was obviously finding it hard to process._

 _With the boys both struggling to say anything, Eliza went on to explain, "That human came into Zombie Town wanting to get rid of us. As in, kill us," they could see the pain on her face, "Alonzo and Zephyr were still out. Alone."_

 _Addison was shocked, "And he got Alonzo?"_

" _He got_ Zephyr _," Zed found his voice again, though it was low and melancholy, "And Al panicked. He froze up, he couldn't do anything and he..." Keira felt herself tense up as his voice faded to a whisper._

 _Eliza took a deep breath, "He took off his Z-band," she was shaking now, but more from anger than anything else, and her eyes were glazed over, "That_ drakska _drove him to taking off his Z-band just to save his boyfriend," she turned to meet Addison's eyes, then Bree's, and they saw her fear, "We could be dead right now if it hadn't been for Al. But the patrol decided he needed to be locked up, and half of Zombie Town is convinced he deserves it."_

 _Bree leaned into Bonzo's chest, looking heartbroken for Alonzo, and all of the zombies, and Addison's head fell into her hands._

" _I-I don't know what to say..."_

 _Keira stopped listening then and tried to block out the noise of chatter around her. It was all about Alonzo. All of it._

 _She didn't want to think about but the following week, she got a call from Zephyr._

" _Hey, Keira? I'm really sorry I have to ask this but... could you give me a ride? To zombie containment? Riz won't let me out of the house unless I'm with a human and I_ need _to see Al."_

Don't get involved _, a voice in her head told her,_ Make some excuse.

" _Sure. I'll be at the barrier in 10."_

 _Sooner or later, she would give in, but for now she'd pretend she could keep this going._

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

Zephyr, for the first time in half a year, was excited for the day ahead. Alonzo had been transferred to lower security which meant that 1. his Z-band was back to its normal setting and was no longer shocking him and 2. he could finally see him, face-to-face, nothing in the way of them being together. Other than a time limit, of course. The car ride was quiet, even a little awkward, but he barely even noticed how Keira's eyes never strayed from the road once, or how Roz would glance at her, concerned, every now and then, and ask if she was alright, only to get a short "I'm fine" in response. Zach, sitting next to Zephyr, could tell something was up but he didn't want to be the one to point it out.

Upon arriving, they were led to a bigger visiting room, with tables and chairs instead of the cold windows and phones. Alonzo must have been the only one currently in low-security because the place was empty, other than a guard standing by a door at the back of the room, which Zephyr refused to take his eyes off of. He wasn't going to just sit down and wait. Roz and Zach stood just behind him.

When the door opened and Alonzo was escorted into the room, all three of them tackled him in a hug and he staggered back, laughing ever so slightly. When Roz and Zach stepped back again, Zephyr was left clinging to him and Alonzo nuzzled into his cheek. They lifted their heads at the same time and looked at each other for a second or two, then suddenly they were kissing – their first kiss since before the arrest. Their friends cheered while the guard turned away, though there was small smile on her face. It soon grew more heated, more desperate, as Zephyr's hand went to the back of Al's neck to pull him impossibly closer and deepen the kiss. Neither of them even heard the guard's awkward cough. Roz had to pull them apart, throwing them both a teasing smirk while Zach shook his head affectionately.

"Save it, guys, you've got company."

Al let out a short, shaky laugh and licked his lips, making Zephyr feel light, but in an instant he teared up and wrapped his arms around Zephyr again, hiding his face in the crook of his neck. Zephyr rubbed his back and murmured in his ear soothingly. Once Al had calmed down enough, Zephyr let him go and Zach surged forward to hug him next, then Roz.

They moved to a table to talk, mostly about how Alonzo was doing now that he had been transferred, but the conversation soon turned to Seabrook, and school. They all avoided bringing up how pale Al still looked, and how he might have been even thinner than the last time he saw him. He had insisted when Zephyr first brought it up that he was fine, it was just being in containment wearing him down a bit. Hopefully that would improve now that he was in better conditions.

Zephyr kept steering the subject away from football, shooting subtle pleading looks at Roz whenever they tried to steer it back. They would just roll their eyes and let it go but in the end, they nudged Zephyr's arm while Al was distracted with something Zach was telling him.

"You _have_ to tell him the truth," they hissed, "He's bound to find out at some time and that will _not_ end well."

"So I just make sure he never finds out."

" _Zephyr_."

He tried to avoid looking at their glaring face but he knew they weren't going to stop. But he was still set on keeping the fight and everything a secret. He wasn't about to ruin this moment they had together by upsetting him, or making him feel guilty.

"Guys...?" he interrupted Zach and they all turned to look at him. He hesitated, "... Can I talk to Al alone for a minute...?"

Roz glanced from him to Al and back again, then looked at Zach and nodded towards the door. A guard opened it as they approached, keeping an eye on Alonzo like he could make a run for it at any minute, but of course, he didn't. Right before they left, Roz caught Zephyr's eye and mouthed 'Tell him'. He just waved her off vaguely. She could believe what she wanted to believe. The door shut behind them and Zephyr turned to Al, who suddenly looked tired.

"... It's not getting any easier, Zephyr."

Zephyr tried to stay optimistic in front of Al. He didn't want to let on that there was anything else wrong, "It'll be better when you're home."

"Being back at home won't change the fact that I'm a murderer."

Zephyr winced, "It's not murder, it's mansla-"

"Like 'manslaughter' sounds any better!" Al interrupted, throwing his arms up in exasperation, even pushing his chair back to get up and walk a few feet away. Zephyr followed him.

"You never meant to kill the guy."

"I knew what I was doing when I took my Z-band off," he reminded him, "I knew it was dangerous."

"You were terrified. You had no other choice."

 _We've been over this..._

"I could've called someone. Or, I dunno, faked going full zombie to scare him off, anything would have been better than _actually_ losing my band!"

"You couldn't even _speak_. How were you supposed to do anything else?" Al didn't respond and Zephyr gently took his hand, "It's in the past."

 _We can't change it._

"Yeah, and in the _present_ , I'm a convict."

"Alonzo," Zephyr suddenly took Al's face in his hands, "I have missed you so much. It's been half a year of only ever talking to you through that _zraghan_ window and we're actually together now so can we not fight? Let's just forget it for now."

Al let out a long breath and nodded, "Alright," he hugged him again and kissed his cheek, whispering into his ear, "I've missed you too, Zeph..."

"Al?"

He pulled back, "Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

Zephyr bit his lip. Standing there in Alonzo's arms, looking up into his eyes with nothing separating them, felt so surreal now. But this was it. He could touch him and kiss him again. He could hear him clearly without that stupid phone. That fact alone made him feel like crying. He tried to wipe away the tears before they could fall but they were coming fast. He took a breath, his voice already shaking before he even spoke.

"I'm sorry you ever had to come here. I'm sorry you ever felt like you deserved it. I don't care what you say, you don't deserve all of this. I just wish you could come home."

His voice cracked and Al's heart shattered. He enveloped Zephyr in another hug and let him cry into his chest, kissing the top of his head and curling his fingers in his hair, "Just a little longer, garzi'ka..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't. The song Epiphany is by Bowling For Soup.

And we're back with some more angst~ What a wonderful gift, just in time for Christmas ^^ (I'm sorry for ruining your holiday...)

Only a couple of chapters left on this story. Then we can pretend it never happened. Btw, the "Under The Mistletoe" prompt I wrote for the Screw Sleep Circle's Christmas week? The next Limelights featuring the BGZ ships will lead on from that so give it a read if you haven't already ;)

* * *

Chapter 8

 _THREE MONTHS AGO - MAY_

" _You know what that's called, Roz?"_

" _Zephyr, don't."_

" _Hypocrisy."_

 _They sat with their head in their hands while Zephyr glared at them._

" _It's not the same thing."_

" _It basically is. You're keeping a secret from Al because you know he'll blame himself for it."_

 _Roz dropped one hand, brushing their hair aside with the other. Zephyr didn't move._

" _The difference is I'm only asking you not to say anything because_ I'm _going to tell him myself. When the time is right. And_ you've _been lying to him to cover your mistake up. I never lied to him. I haven't even_ mentioned _Keira to him these past couple of months."_

 _He looked at them, holding back every snide comment he could make, "Still. You gonna get off my back about the fight now or what?"_

 _Roz returned his gaze, "No. He's your boyfriend. And you're lying to his face. You need to tell him the truth."_

" _... Fine..."_

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

On the day of Alonzo's release, Zephyr was up bright and early. Way too early for Rizzo's liking, but she was still forced to get up and accompany her brother to his boyfriend's house. They waited outside, Rizzo sitting down on the sidewalk trying to at least rest her eyes while Zephyr refused to keep still for even a second. He was too anxious to see Al back home at last to just sit around and be patient. Before too long though, a face appeared at the window and Al's mom came out to join them. Soon after, Zach and Roz arrived and eventually Zane was there too. The only one out of their circle of friends not there was Paizley. None of them said a word about it. They all knew why she wasn't coming.

Lindzey came running over excitedly and her mom had to catch her before she crashed into a wall or something. What surprised everyone, though, was that her father was with her. For most of Alonzo's life, their relationship had been rather strained, to the point that Al was actually glad to see his parents split up, only for him to end up bitter over his dad getting custody of Lindzey. He hadn't even once visited his son in containment, and yet he was showing up now.

None of the young zombies gathered there cared to talk to him and kept their distance, but Zephyr couldn't help shooting him a dirty look. If he saw, he ignored it. And anyway, everyone's attention was now on the approaching zombie patrol van that had just turned onto the street.

The doors were opened and Alonzo climbed out, a little unceremoniously but to Zephyr, the world seemed to stand still. He was home. Finally, _finally_ , he was home. This was what Zephyr had needed: Alonzo back home again, in Zombie Town, with him. His skin was still unusually pale, and he was still thinner than he probably should be, and he looked weak overall, but he was home.

His mother was the first to greet him, running to hug him the second his feet touched the ground. She clung to him and pressed kiss after kiss to his face and he tried to resist until he was laughing through tears. When she stepped back, wiping her own eyes, Al saw Zephyr behind her and the two smiled, but then Al's gaze drifted a little further and his face fell. Zephyr frowned and turned to find Alonzo's dad standing there, watching his son pretty much emotionlessly. He held onto Lindzey's hand tightly and she looked nervously between the two of them. She needed to diffuse this situation. She slipped her hand out of her dad's grasp and ran to hug Alonzo. He crouched down a little to return the hug and murmur in her ear.

"How's things going with that girl?"

"It's alright now."

"You sure?" he pulled back, his hands on her shoulders, "'Cause school's about to start again. You gonna be OK?"

Lindzey nodded, "Yeah. I can handle it."

That wasn't entirely reassuring but she had already moved to let his friends swamp him. They were hugging him from all sides and Zephyr's head was nestled in the crook of his neck. Alonzo closed his eyes and let himself bask in the love surrounding him. He hadn't felt so at peace since before the incident, but then he lifted his head and saw his parents speaking in hushed tones. Arguing again. Probably over how his dad didn't seem to have anything to say to him. Nothing new.

Instead of dwelling on it, though, Al tilted Zephyr's chin up to kiss him and Roz and Zach laughed and cheered. Rizzo pretended to gag and Zane shook his head affectionately.

Then came the inevitable question.

"... Where's Paizley?" Al asked once they were done with their welcome and they all looked off in different directions. They seemed anxious, "What's wrong?"

Everyone turned to Zane at the same time. Of course. He was closest to Paizley of all of them. With a sigh, he took a step forwards.

"She hasn't been taking it well," he started, "The patrol hadn't actually been _inside_ her house like that in over ten years, Al. She didn't talk to anyone but her parents for a while. She's been having more episodes over the last year, more flashbacks..."

"What...?"

Zane hesitated to continue but he knew he had to hear about it sooner or later, "She didn't want to see you in case it triggered anything worse."

Alonzo's mouth hung open in shock and his eyes fell to the ground, "... You're saying she remembers..."

When Paizley was 7 years old, the patrol had raided her house, taking back all the so-called 'stolen' items her parents had brought home from the recycling plant where they worked, tasered her when she tried to stop them, and then burned them all on a bonfire. Ever since that day, Paizley had kept the memories of it locked away, but she had remained uneasy at the mere sight of the zombie patrol. She stood watch every night when they came to enforce curfew. She was terrified of them; that was why she was home-schooled, and never joined the others at Seabrook High. To keep her interactions with the patrol to a minimum and not trigger any flashbacks or panic attacks.

But now...

"... This is my fault," Al muttered and Zephyr stepped forward, "I need to talk to her."

"Al, I don't think that's a good idea," Zephyr said gently.

Al sighed and shook his head, "I have to. I can't act like I have nothing to do with it!"

Zephyr took his hand, "Really. It's not gonna help."

"I know I can't do anything about it, but I have to at least apologise to her, Zeph."

"Al..."

"I'm gonna go find her."

He kissed Zephyr's forehead and left before he could make any other attempt to stop him.

Paizley only lived down the street from the twins and when Al reached their block, he spotted her on her way down to the cauli-brains stand with her wagon.

"Paiz...?"

She froze at the sound of his voice, then her head snapped up and Alonzo stopped in his tracks when he saw her face. She looked scared at first then her expression quickly changed to one of hurt, then of anger. Next thing he knew, she had turned on her heel and was striding away down the street, pulling her wagon behind her as quickly as she possibly could. It took Al a minute or two to register what was happening before he followed her, calling out in desperation.

"Paiz, c'mon, just let me-"

"I don't want to talk to you," she said firmly. She didn't even turn her head. She just kept walking. Al faltered. She was almost at her house now.

"Paizley...!"

She dropped the handle of her wagon and finally turned to look at him, but all she said was " _I don't want to talk to you...!_ "

Alonzo gave up and stood in silence as she left the wagon by the porch, climbed the steps and opened the front door. She shot him one last look; he had never seen her so upset. Not since the raid all those years ago.

"I don't...!" her voice shook and she covered her mouth with one hand, hurrying inside before she could start to cry. The door slammed shut and Alonzo was left with no clue how to react.

"I don't blame her!" a voice shouted from across the street and he turned to see Suzanne watching him with a hand on her hip and her usual holier-than-thou attitude. Azure and Inez were with her, though they each had very different stance. Inez was clearly on Suzanne's side, glaring at Al with cold, unforgiving eyes while Azure seemed more sympathetic towards him, her anger being directed at her friends. Suzanne continued, "If the person who dug up all my most painful memories came along thinking I'd forgive them, I'd shut them out, too."

"It's not my fault she remembered," he said, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince them, "It's not my fault the patrol treated her like they did."

"It _is_ your fault they were here in the first place, though," Inez stepped forward, "And she got hurt when you didn't. And _I_ got grilled when you didn't. And Riza. And Izabelle. And Topaz."

"Inez, stop. Leave him alone," Azure frowned and shoved her lightly, "The others don't blame him. You need to get over it, it's been a year."

"Yeah, and a year don't mean _jack_ compared to what we could still have coming to us now 'cause of _him_."

She sneered at Al, as did Suzanne, but Azure wasn't about to accept it. She screwed up her face in disgust and determination and marched over to Alonzo to hug him.

"Don't listen to them. They're being _so_ ungrateful when they might not even be here if it hadn't been for you."

Al hesitantly returned the hug, "Thanks, Azure..."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

"When have you ever cared what Inez or Suzanne or any of those guys think of you?" Zach asked, being serious for once, "You never let that kind of negativity get to you before."

Alonzo had gone straight to Zach's to talk to him about his run-in with the girls earlier that day. He needed to get it all off his chest, but he didn't want to trouble Zephyr any more than he already had. He was laying on Zach's bed, his hands covering his face, while Zach sat spinning back and forth in his chair opposite. Al sat up.

"Maybe not the rest of them, but what about Paizley? _Paizley_ is friends with everybody," he was getting almost frantic, tears forming in his eyes, "Paizley smiles at everyone and talks to everyone and it doesn't matter what you did, she'd always still like you. So how do you think it feels when Paizley of all people is mad at you? And all she says is that she doesn't want to talk to you?"

Zach couldn't answer that. He was right. This was _Paizley Reilig_ , everyone's goofy big sister figure. She practically never stopped smiling. But that was because she had kept all of her childhood trauma locked up inside, and it had all been released in a short time. She had managed, for the most part, to get through the year with minimal problems but Alonzo returning home really must have stirred up her emotions. He couldn't escape his guilt, in whatever form it took.

He hurt people. Not just one single human. He hurt people who he cared about, who he loved, who did nothing wrong. That was why he had deserved to be locked up. That was why he deserved to be shocked by his band. That was why he deserved being made sick every time he a-

His body convulsed and he quickly turned away, trying and failing to be discreet as he clapped a hand over his mouth. Zach stared at him, concerned.

"Al...? You OK?" Alonzo ran from the room and Zach jumped up to go after him, " _Al!_ "

He found him throwing up in the bathroom.

A moment later, Al was sitting on the floor against the wall, breathing deeply with his arms propped up on his knees and his head in his hands as Zach waited for an explanation.

"... It's been like this... _all year_..." he was shivering.

" _What?_ Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't want you guys to worry. Things were already bad enough."

"How have you been sick _all year_?"

"It's not some kind of illness," Alonzo gave a humourless laugh, "They don't exactly have much variety in zombie containment, Zach. Everything they feed you in there tastes of bra-" he gagged again and Zach reached out a hand in alarm but he pushed him away, "... Brains... Just thinking about it makes me sick... Zach...?" he lifted his head and Zach looked at him, "You can't tell Zephyr."

"Why _not_?"

"I told you. I can't make this any harder on him. He's gonna find a way to blame himself or feel guilty about it," he went quiet for a second or two, "Everybody keeps treating me like I'm fragile. I think you might be the only one who doesn't feel like you need to be walking on eggshells around me."

"I'm your best friend, right?" Zach shrugged. Al rolled his eyes and opened his mouth but Zach stopped him, "Well, your best friend who you aren't completely in love with..." he trailed off and raised an eyebrow at Al cautiously, "You're not, are you?"

"Zach, this isn't the time..."

"Sorry, I just..." Zach shook his head, "I dunno what to say! Humour's pretty much my only coping mechanism."

There was a pause as Alonzo thought. When he finally answered, he spoke slowly, his eyes fixed on Zach's.

"Tell me I'm an idiot. I don't care anymore, say it! Tell me I ruined everything and I deserve to be hated. Tell me Inez and the others are right, because I can't stand trying to pretend like they're not."

Zach stared right back at him, taking in Alonzo's desperate and confused expression.

"You're an idiot," he stated, "You ruined everything and you deserve to be hated. And Inez _is_ right," his face stayed completely neutral and Al still turned away guiltily, "See, that's not really what you want to hear."

"... I don't know what I want to hear."

"This is way too complicated for you to want the same thing from everybody. There's things you want to hear and there's things you need to hear. From a lot of people. I can't fix everything for you with just a few words."

It wasn't every day that Zach gave such potent advice but the more he thought about it, the more Al wondered how true it could be.

And what exactly it was that he needed to hear.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

A couple of days later, Alonzo heard the first of the things he needed to hear while he was over at Roz's house.

"Hey, Roz...?"

"What?"

"You haven't mentioned Keira lately," he turned to look at her from his spot on her beanbag. Sitting on the end of her bed behind him, Roz chewed her lip nervously, "Did something happen?"

She shrugged. Then nodded.

"They aren't... segregating us again, are they?"

"No, it's nothing like that, she, uh..." she couldn't look at him, "Me and Keira... aren't..."

Sometimes – _sometimes_ – Al could guess what was going on without it being spelled out for him. It took him a moment, but he could. His jaw dropped open ever so slightly when he caught on.

"She broke up with you?"

"Yeah."

"Because of me."

A statement. Not a question. Roz's eyes fell to the floor and she bit her lip.

"... Yeah."

"I'm sorry..." Alonzo sighed and ran a hand down his face. He was so tired of saying he was sorry all the time, but he was always at fault.

"Don't be, you've got enough on your plate," Roz tried to comfort him, "You don't need to worry about my relationship problems."

"It's not just you!" Al still couldn't forget the words of Inez and Suzanne and Paizley, "This could still change so much, absolutely everything we worked for since we started going to Seabrook High..."

"Alonzo!" Roz suddenly snapped, her eyes closed and her hands on her temples, and he stopped, "You need to calm down. I'm not saying it'll all work out. I'm not blind, I can see how serious this is and I know there's other zombies in town who blame you and OK, I'll admit it, they're right! It _is_ your fault." that made him blink in surprise and frown. That was what he had thought he needed to hear, but he felt conflicted now that he heard it for real and not just to make a point like when Zach said it, "I won't sugarcoat it, you screwed up, it got bad and now we're all paying for it. But I can't hate you for it! You did it for the right reason," she offered him a small smile but he turned away and Roz's heart dropped, "Zephyr is alive. _We're all still alive_. And anybody who can't at least be grateful for that is not worth beating yourself up for. We don't hate you. No-one who actually matters hates you."

Al looked back at her with a blank face.

"Paizley."

"Paizley does _not_ hate you, she just had a really bad reaction. She'll get through it."

"You're my friend. Of course you're gonna say that."

Roz rolled her eyes, "Alright, then what about Zephyr?"

"What _about_ Zephyr?"

"He loves you, Al. If you can't believe we don't hate you, you've got to at least know _he_ still loves you."

"... Does he?"

It came out as barely a whisper but it broke Roz's heart. Zephyr had gotten himself so lost, he was making his boyfriend second-guess him.

"... I'm not gonna lie, I was questioning if he really did love you a while ago, but honestly, look at what happened. He watched you kill and start to eat a human, and I'm sorry I'm bringing it up, but he saw you do that and how'd he handle it?"

"... By covering for me," Al's eyes were down, "And staying with me the whole time."

"Yeah, and by loving you, unconditionally. He's putting all his energy into supporting you. And, Z, he really needs you, Al, he changed so much without you. He's so happy when you're around, he's calm, he's... normal... When you're _not_ around, though, he's just plain scary. He got so mad at people. When he got suspended from the te-"

Alonzo's head snapped up, "Wait, what?"

"... What?"

"He got suspended from the football team?"

She sucked in a breath.

 _He didn't tell him._

"Yeah," she nodded, "And he was in counselling for, like, two months."

"He never told me that."

Alonzo didn't know how to respond. Roz paused then leaned closer to him but he didn't so much as look at her.

"These kids at school were talking about you. Rumours get around, y'know? He flipped out."

"Why didn't he say anything?" he frowned, speaking more to himself, it seemed.

"Because he doesn't want you to keep blaming yourself for things. If he breaks, then you could break and that's the last thing he wants."

"He's a little too late."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

He was outside the Styx family's house soon after. Rizzo answered the door and was surprised to see him there, especially looking so mad, but she just stepped aside and told him "He's upstairs." The sound of guitar music was coming from his bedroom.

" _Stop before you get me started, maybe I'll just go. I'm not exactly broken-hearted and I think you already know that there's more to this story than I'm givin' up, and maybe I should just grow up..._ "

Alonzo had never bothered to knock when entering Zephyr's room but he usually at least announced himself somehow. Now, though, he burst through the door without a word. Zephyr jumped when he did, quickly relaxing when he saw it was Al and putting his guitar down to spring from his chair and embrace him.

"Al!"

He had missed the simple act of holding him, touching him at all, really, while they were separated, and he couldn't get enough physical contact. Even after he'd been transferred to lower security, they didn't get the time together they really needed. He craved it. However, after a couple of seconds, Alonzo placed his hands and Zephyr's arms and pushed him about a foot away. His intense stare bore into Zephyr's questioning eyes and he was lost for what to do.

"So now we're keeping things from each other?"

Zephyr squinted, "What are you talking about? What would I ever have to hide from you?"

"The football team? Counselling? You didn't think that was important for me to know?"

Zephyr was speechless for a moment, eventually stammering out a reply, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't want you to worry about me. It's not a big deal, though, Al..." he reached for him again but Al stepped back.

"Two months of counselling sounds like a pretty big deal to me. You gonna explain how that happened?"

"Where did you even hear about that?"

"I was just talking to Roz," Al told him and it all clicked into place, "First I find out I got her dumped then it turns out I got you-"

"This was _not_ your fault. _I_ got myself suspended and _I_ got myself into counselling."

"How? What did you do?"

He may have already heard it from Roz, but he needed to hear it from him. Zephyr had to admit to this himself. But he wasn't saying anything.

"You lied to me, Zeph. You were just gonna let me keep believing all that _vak_ you were spewing about football. So come on, you owe me an explanation. _What did you do?_ "

"... I got into a fight."

"Over what?"

Zephyr scoffed and waved a hand dismissively but Alonzo pressed on, coming closer.

" _Zephyr._ "

"... Over you, OK?"

They stood looking at each other, both quiet, both angry and both hurt. Al shook his head and finally broke eye contact, "I knew it," he muttered and turned away, not seeing how Zephyr's face softened.

"You didn't hear what they were saying about you," he said with tears pricking his eyes. He walked over to Al and tugged on his hand to turn him back around, "It was horrible."

"So what did they say?"

"That it would've been better if he had killed us. And everybody. That you meant to kill him when you took off your band. That I shouldn't still be with you aft-"

"I get it."

"They're wrong, though, Al," he laced their fingers together, "You know they're wrong."

"... I know..."

"Al, it was months ago, and I'll get back on the team again once school starts. You don't have to worry about it."

"... What did your counsellor say about it?"

"Do we have to talk about that?"

"I thought we didn't keep secrets."

"I'm not keeping it secret, I just... I don't think I'm ready to talk about that yet."

"Zeph?" Al frowned and cupped his cheek, his anger melting into concern, "Is it bad?"

"It can wait, OK? If it was really bad, it couldn't wait, right?"

"Swear to me, Zeph."

"I swear," he promised. He couldn't tell him those details. Not yet. He covered Al's hand with his own, rubbing his thumb across his knuckles, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just didn't want to make things worse for you. I didn't want you blaming yourself for anything else."

As Zephyr rose up on tiptoes to kiss Alonzo's cheek, Al bit his lip.

" _I can't make this any harder on him. He's gonna find a way to blame himself or feel guilty about it."_

 _Hey._

 _You know what that's called, Alonzo?_

 _Hypocrisy._


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't.

Ah, it's almost the New Year and I bring you angst~!

One more chapter to go... maybe an epilogue after that? We'll see. Either way, Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time) is almost over :( Maybe I'll finally get back to the series fic...? Or write that Bucky fic I wanted to do? Who knows? I certainly don't

Oh and you may have seen that fist-it-out and krut09 borrow the BGZ for their fics sometimes, and fist-it-out has just started a fic revolving around Zach shipping him with Bucky! Give it a read, it's already looking good :D

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Chapter 9

 _SIX MONTHS AGO - JUNE_

 _Zephyr sat hunched over his food in the cafeteria, unable to block out the gossiping voices all around him. He had his friends and his sister surrounding him but he barely took in any of their conversation. Summer break was fast approaching and his suspension from the football team was still in effect. He hadn't gone back to counselling, no matter how much they told him to. And not just the counsellor herself, or even Principal Lee, but_ them _. His friends. His_ sister _. They were worried about him. They were scared for him._

They should be worried about Alonzo. They should be scared for Alonzo. Stop focusing on me. Focus on him. He needs it. He deserves it. Not me.

 _He knew they were looking at him. Every now and then, out of the corner of his eye, he'd see one of their heads briefly turn towards him then jerk away. They didn't say a word about it, though. But everybody else clearly had something to say, and none of them louder than Suzanne._

" _So, we survived this year," she was saying, "If you call basically clocking in at the barrier every morning surviving. And the daily Z-band scans. And patrol officers around every corner. I mean, gaz, this is worse than it was right before the integration started," there were murmurs of agreement around her, "He'll be out of containment by September," she reminded them and Zephyr gritted his teeth, "Who knows what's gonna happen then."_

 _There was silence for a moment and Zephyr knew she was looking at him with that worn out old condescending gaze she dished out every chance she got. She turned back to her friends and tilted her head down as if she wasn't still speaking loud enough for everyone in the room to hear._

" _And Zephyr's still visiting him. I don't know what he's trying to prove, I'm surprised he even stuck with him this long. He saw the whole thing. How can he even stand to be around the guy anymore?"_

 _But Zephyr refused to let it show that she was getting to him; he couldn't get into anymore trouble. As he ruminated over Suzanne's cruel words, two tables down from where the whole BFZ gang (minus, of course, Alonzo) sat, another group of zombies was shifting uncomfortably in their seats, casting concerned or bitter glances at Suzanne and hoping no-one would think they agreed with her. She was sitting at the same table as them, after all._

 _Hazen was, unfortunately at this time, a friend of Suzanne's so he, Zeke, Diaz, Fritz and the Terrible Trio were close by. For Izabelle especially, uncomfortably close. She could barely stand to even be in the same room as Suzanne, and that was on a good day. Zeke was the first to notice how she was tapping her nails on the table._

" _Belle?"_

 _He reached out to touch her hand and she jumped, quickly turning to look at him and the others._

" _One of you better hold me back before I beat this chick to a pulp," she muttered before turning her attention back to Suzanne._

" _Izabelle..."_

" _Hazen, I'm sorry, but I don't care if she's your friend, that's none of her business. It's Zephyr's."_

" _Am I finally rubbing off on you?" Zeke smirked, just trying to lighten the mood, but Izabelle ignored him._

 _It wasn't much longer before Izabelle had had enough and she stood up suddenly, all eyes on her. Faint whispers could be heard from the far corners._

" _Are you finished?" she snapped, one hand flat on the table as she stared Suzanne down. Sue just raised her eyebrows and propped her elbows up on the table, tilting her head and pouting mockingly at Iza._

" _What, you got something to say, gralzig?"_

 _Her jaw locked, Izabelle forced herself not to react, "Yeah. How about you shut your mouth before I come over there and rip it right off your face?"_

 _Suzanne let out a short, fake laugh, "So you're siding with the literal killer! Why am I not surprised?"_

" _Sue...!" Hazen hissed but he went unnoticed because another voice piped up from another table. A human voice, that none of them knew._

" _See, this is how you're all gonna get sent back to the basement come September!", for once, Izabelle and Suzanne were in near perfect sync as they narrowed their eyes at the girl who had spoken. She continued, "Or better yet, they send you back to Zombie Town's school."_

 _A hush fell over the whole cafeteria as Izabelle stood, staring at the human girl. Her face remained blank as she started towards her._

" _Izabelle..." Zeke warned but the only response he got was her hand brushing across his shoulder as she passed by him. Her eyes never strayed from the human girl's, who started to waver under Iza's gaze as she slowly crept closer and closer. Only a second behind her, Riza and Zadie followed._

" _Did I_ ask _for your opinion? Drakska?"_

 _The girl obviously had some kind of death wish because she didn't back down, despite the nervousness in her eyes, "I didn't think zombies were even capable of forming an opinion."_

 _Izabelle instinctively reached down._

" _That's it, it's comin-"_

 _She froze when she realised what she was doing. The human had flinched away and Zadie jumped to grab her wrist, gripping it tighter than any time before. Iza looked over her shoulder to see Zadie's panicked expression. The human girl's eyes, wide with pure fear, were fixed on Izabelle's Z-band and the hand hovering over it, which she dropped immediately. She stepped back, suddenly regretting making the move in the first place. Zadie didn't let go._

" _Just... ugh!" Izabelle turned away, dejected, with her friends following close behind._

 _Zeke was already hurrying towards them and went to hug Izabelle but she walked right past him. She gave him a brief apologetic look, as did Zadie and Riza trailing after her, but didn't stop._

" _Belle...?"_

 _He watched, stunned, as the three of them walked out of the cafeteria then Suzanne spoke up again and Zeke clenched his fists and gritted his teeth._

" _There's no use in even trying, Zeke. She's hopeless."_

 _His head whipped round to glare at her, "Y'know what? I'm sick of you, Sue," he took a step closer to her, "I'm sick of you picking fights with my girlfriend just to screw with her, I'm sick of you walking all over my best friend like you_ own _him, and I am so,_ so _sick of you constantly talking down to everybody around you!" everyone's focus had shifted to him in seconds, "You think you're better than the rest of us? You're trying way too hard to be like the humans. You're a zombie. You're one of us whether you like it or not and we're supposed to be in this together, but you're just driving us further apart. You don't know what's going on in Zephyr's head. You don't know what Alonzo could be going through in containment," Zeke was barely a foot away from Suzanne, stone-faced and jabbing a finger in her face aggressively, "So sit down and keep your mouth shut before I do something I'll regret."_

 _Suzanne had stood there, arms folded, face neutral, for his entire rant. Now, all she did was cock her head to one side, swaying slightly._

" _You're telling me I'm driving the zombie community apart, but then you go and threaten me? You don't see the irony there? Besides, Alonzo's the one who's really divided everyone. Shouldn't you be more concerned about that?"_

 _Zeke stared at her for a moment then slowly shook his head, "Do you care about anyone? At all? I'm wasting my time on you. You haven't had a single heartbeat in your life."_

 _He didn't wait around for her to reply. He glanced at Hazen then headed for the door the trio had left through. As he passed Zephyr, he placed a hand on his back in solidarity. Zephyr, Roz, Zach, Rizzo and Zane all lifted their heads, smiling at him in thanks. Meanwhile, Hazen hadn't taken his eyes off Zeke when Suzanne scoffed and let out a mocking laugh._

" _What, does he think he can scare me? He's defending a murderer, for Z's sake, he-"_

" _Sue?" Hazen stopped her, his voice quiet as ever. He looked up at her, nervous but determined, "Just shut up. For once in your life."_

 _He got up and ran after Zeke, with Fritz and Diaz not far behind. Both of them glared at Suzanne as they went. They caught up with Zeke in the hall and eventually found Izabelle, Riza and Zadie, along with Bonzo, in a nearby safe room. Bonzo had his arms wrapped tightly around his cousin and looked up as the boys entered. Riza and Zadie, both gently stroking Izabelle's hair, glanced over a well. Zeke sighed in relief seeing she was alright but his heart broke when he saw traces of tears in his girlfriend's eyes and walked over. He crouched down in front of her._

" _Ze'ka?"_

" _I'm right here," he reached up to caress her face, "I had to give Sue a piece of my mind first."_

 _Iza laughed through her tears, "Good..." her smiled dropped again and she leaned against Bonzo, "I'm a terrible person."_

" _No, you're not."_

" _Why do you think people call us the Terrible Trio? You saw what I did."_

" _We've all done it before, Iza," Riza reminded her in a hushed tone, "We're never serious."_

" _Not since Al... No-one's joked about losing their band since Al."_

 _Not one of them had a response to that._

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

They wouldn't let him go back to school straight away. For the first three months after his release, Alonzo had been forced to stay within the barrier, under constant watch. It was in that time that he told Zach about his year-long sickness and he had found out about Zephyr's suspension from the football team. By the time December rolled around, the whole school was buzzing with the knowledge that he was about to return. And in Zombie Town, Al's anxiety levels were rising rapidly. Suzanne, Inez and the rest of their supporters were still treating him with as little respect as possible but Zephyr and his friends were there for him every time.

Al knew all too well that he was going to be under fierce scrutiny from the zombie patrol from now on. The other zombies were already facing the consequences of his actions with far stricter boundaries being placed on them. And although they weren't being sent back to the basement, zombies and humans no longer had classes together. They were being segregated again, and the upgrade from the dingy basement during their first days at Seabrook High to actual classrooms didn't really make up for it.

On his first day back, Alonzo, hand-in-hand with Zephyr, froze up as they came to the gate into Seabrook. As was the norm now, two zombie patrol officers stood on guard to check everyone who passed through and scan their Z-bands.

Al hesitated, his eyes on the floor as he took a few deep breaths. Zephyr stopped to give him a loving look and rub soothing circles on his back as Al shrunk into him for comfort.

"... Zeph, I'm scared..."

Zephyr's hand took his again and he tugged on it, urging Al to look at him, "Scared of what?"

He was quiet for a while before he answered, his voice low and his focus back on the school, "Zombie instinct..."

"Al, nothing is going to happen."

When Al looked back at him, Zephyr saw the wild fear in his eyes, "I haven't been around that many humans in over a _year_! And last time I saw a human outside of the zombie patrol, I..." he swallowed the bile rising in his throat, careful to hide it from Zephyr as best he could, "I got a taste of it. What if that side of me comes out again? What if something _does_ happen?"

"It _won't_ ," Zephyr turned him around to face him, his hands on Alonzo's chest. He locked eyes with him and brought one hand up into his hair. Al leaned into the touch, "You can do this. You're online," his other hand lifted the arm with Al's Z-band on it, showing off the green light of the ONLINE screen, "You're stable and you got me right here in case anything happens. It's just like before."

With another glance up at the school, Al shot him a look of panic, "... I can taste it..." he whispered.

He could taste it. He could taste it, and part of him _wanted_ it. That feral instinctive part that his Z-band was meant to appease. Just a taste of a real human brain and it still lingered on his mind even now. Zephyr, with no clue as to just how far his boyfriend's fears went, reached up and pulled him closer by the back of his neck, their faces just inches apart, "That's OK. You're not gonna do anything about it," he kissed him sweetly, then gave him a reassuring smile, "And I don't taste anything. It's all in your head. I trust you, alright?"

Taking his hand once again, Zephyr led Alonzo to the door.

Over the next few days, Alonzo took hit after hit, physical and verbal, from his fellow students, human and zombie alike. It probably wasn't a good thing that he was getting used to it. Zeke had offered to walk with him and Zephyr to school for protection, as he did for Hazen, but it proved to be a bad idea – Al wasn't being made a target for seeming weak like Hazen was, he was a target because he was a threat to the humans and a traitor to the zombies. Having Zeke beside him when people shot him dirty looks and shouted abuse at him across the hall might have been comforting had the circumstances been different, but in this case, it only served to make things worse. Nonetheless, he appreciated it.

Zeke did still stand up for him at times. And it wasn't surprising that Zephyr did too. What Alonzo hadn't expected, though, was for people to cower away from Zephyr just as often as they did from Zeke. Zephyr wasn't supposed to be intimidating. He was _Zephyr_... It saddened Al to see how much he had changed without him but at the very least, Zephyr certainly was coping a lot better now that he was back home again. He wasn't quite like his old self, but it was something.

Some days were better than others.

There was a particularly aggressive human who wouldn't leave him alone one afternoon. Al tried to keep his head down and ignore the guy practically stalking him and yelling obscenities and slurs at him on his way to meet with Zephyr. He was about to turn and confront him at last when the human boy was jerked backwards like someone had grabbed the back of his collar but at first, Al saw nothing there. Not until the human got shoved aside to reveal none other than Izabelle Graves behind him, who swiftly sent the human on his merry way with a firm kick to his side. Al didn't know how to respond as she turned to him.

"... You gonna thank me or what?"

"Sorry! ... Thanks, Iza," and he did mean it. Then he frowned, "You... You didn't go for your Z-band..."

Izabelle flinched, but tried to pass it off as a shrug, "I... I don't do that anymore," she looked away and Al bit his lip, "Nobody really does that anymore."

"I-I don't care if you still do it," Al told her, "It's not like you'd actually take it off... It's just a joke."

She spun back around sharply to face him, "It doesn't feel like a joke anymore. The last time I did it was _months ago_ and I just...!" she pressed her hands to her temples and shook her head, "When Zadie stopped me that time she... I think she was really scared I was gonna do it."

"You wouldn't."

 _Ha._

With an all-too-fake smile on her face, Izabelle dropped her arms to her sides again, "Like _you_ wouldn't?" she sighed when Al ducked his head, "Alonzo, you're a good person, you'd never hurt anybody, but you snapped when Zephyr got threatened. I'm not like you. If I didn't have someone around to stop me, the smallest thing could end in me... doing what you did..." she trailed off, her voice uncharacteristically small.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologise," she scoffed and sat down, tipping her head back, "I'm just realising a few things. You've got your own baggage to deal with. Gaz, people always kept trying to tell me violence doesn't solve anything but I never listened, 'cause it was too damn fun. This is kinda opening my eyes..."

Al still couldn't let it go, "If it wasn't for me, it wouldn't be a problem. They shouldn't think you'd be serious about doing that in the first place, not just picking fights in the halls."

"Sooner or later," Iza shrugged, "I would've learned. If it wasn't you, it'd be something else."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

Roz kept insisting she was fine, and maybe she was, but Al couldn't help the urge to apologise every time somebody mentioned Keira. It had been months since they broke up but he still felt like he needed to make up for it. In the end, he decided it wasn't Roz he had to make it up to. Before class one day, he tracked down Keira in the hallway.

"Keira...?" he called out and she stopped as he caught up with her. She looked nervous, avoiding eye contact.

"Al, not now, OK?"

"Keira, I just wanna talk to you."

For a moment, she didn't respond. She hesitated to say anything at all, then gave in and took a breath, "Alonzo, I really don't think that's a good idea..."

She went to push past him but he turned and followed her down the hall.

"Please, I need to get this out. It's about Roz."

Keira stopped and finally faced him, holding up a hand, "Look, I have my reasons for breaking up with them, and you definitely are not going to change my mind," she said firmly.

"I don't want to change your mind, if you're really serious about it, then fine. I can't do anything about that. But I don't want you to be... scared of us again. Roz got over the breakup alright but what's still getting to them is that you were scared of her," he paused, staring at her pleadingly, "I get why you'd be scared of me but Roz and the others had nothing to do with it, it's all on me. I made a mistake and I regretted it the moment my band was back on. And I couldn't get it off again if I wanted to," he held up his wrist and tugged on his Z-band, which barely even moved. He didn't miss how Keira flinched when he did, "It's fully locked. You can't blame Roz-"

"I don't... _blame_ her, I just... I-I can't be around her without thinking about this. She's too close to you. I _met_ her because of you!"

Stunned, Alonzo stepped back.

"... At least one person I was close to blames me..." he muttered to himself. Keira didn't hear him.

"I tried, Al. I really tried but I can't handle all this. I can't be involved in this anymore."

"OK. But that doesn't mean you have to avoid the other zombies. None of them had any part in this."

Keira just bit her lip and nodded vaguely, her eyes down.

"I gotta go..."

She hurried away before Al could stop her. But, he thought, at least he had tried. At least he had said it. He couldn't expect everything to work out. He never had.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't. The song Catalyst is by Bowling For Soup.

Well, here we are, at the final (proper) chapter of Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time). This has been fun, huh? :D I decided it needed to end on fluff. It's hard to give this story a real happy ending, so the least I can do is leave it at a nice place. Although, there is still an epilogue yet to come next week~

It's been a while since I updated any other fics but don't worry, now that TM is coming to a close, I'll get back to Limelight and BtB and AGAZ and all that good stuff very soon!

* * *

Chapter 10

He had definitely calmed down since Alonzo came home, Rizzo could see that clear as day, but she couldn't help worrying about her brother still. Sometimes she wondered if Zephyr was becoming too dependent on his boyfriend, and as his big sister, she felt it was her job to address the issue. Winter break was coming to an end and although Zephyr had tried to enjoy his time, especially now that Al was with him again, Rizzo knew neither of them were coping well enough. But they could start to heal if they would just let go of the last threads of insecurity they were holding onto.

They weren't going to fix everything so soon. Maybe even at all. But they'd never know if they didn't take the first step beyond their mistakes.

BFZ were still on hiatus seeing as Alonzo was having enough trouble readjusting back into his normal life, and it didn't help that their previous audience had diminished by about fifty percent. A lot of people didn't want to see a group fronted by a murderer. Despite that, Zephyr had managed to pick up his guitar again at times when he was alone in his room. Up until now, Rizzo had always chosen to leave him be when she heard him playing. That was his time for himself, but she felt like this talk couldn't wait any longer. She burst into his room, unannounced, as usual, and he swung round to glare at her.

" _Rude!_ "

"Don't care."

"What do you want? I'm busy."

She folded her arms, "We gotta talk."

"Can't it wait?"

With a shake of her head, Rizzo stepped towards him, "Oh, I have waited long enough and I am not seeing any progress."

She went to grab his guitar and he jerked back.

"You have _got_ to quit touching my stuff, Riz."

"Put it down," she demanded, "You need to talk this out and I don't see you trying to talk to nobody else."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes but did as he was told, "Alright, fine. But what do you even mean by 'progress'?"

"I _mean_ you're not getting anywhere! Sure, Alonzo's back now so you're not angry all the time or moping around anymore but I can tell there's still something wrong here. And it's because you won't admit there was _ever_ anything wrong."

That only confused him.

"Of course there was something wrong...!"

"Something wrong with _you_."

" _I_ am _fine_ ," he insisted, "What matters now is helping Al get through it."

"Al's not the only one involved, though. You need-"

"I need to be there for him," at least he was calm. Not like when he and Alonzo were separated, "This isn't about me. It was never about me, it's about him. It's my job to take care of him."

Rizzo softened for a moment, "Zephyr..."

"You've heard what they've all been saying about him," he went on, "He's the one hurting here."

"You are, too, baby."

"I'm not. I don't have a reason to. Not when Al's still-"

"Stop right there," she said firmly, holding up a finger, "You listen to me, Zephyr, you literally witnessed a murder. Yes, it was your boyfriend who did it and yes, he did it to save you, I am not going to deny that, but that doesn't change the fact that _you witnessed a murder_. Right after you almost lost your own life. That hit you hard. And then on top of all that, right when you needed him most, Alonzo got taken away from you. I'm not saying you shouldn't be worried about him but there is more than enough room in your heart to worry about him _and_ you. You gotta take care of yourself, too!"

He looked like he'd just been slapped and Rizzo almost regretted saying it, but he needed to hear it. He needed to accept it.

"Riz, I..." he struggled to speak as tears pricked his eyes, "I-I can't..."

Carefully, Rizzo placed a hand on his arm, "Tell me what's wrong, Zeph."

That's all it took.

"... I just want Al back...!" Zephyr sobbed, "I want him back to his old self, I want him laughing again and I want us to be playing music together again but..." he raked his fingers through his hair, "I'm being so selfish saying that. I want..."

"You want him to be comforting you again, don't you?"

She cocked her head, looking at him with a sympathetic smile. He sniffed and nodded, and Rizzo opened her arms prompting him to hug her.

"He's had it so much worse than me, I can't expect that from him!"

"Oh, Zephyr..." she soothed, swaying him back and forth like they were little kids again, "Baby, you both went through something horrible, it's not about who had it worse. You deserve the comfort just as much as he does."

He stepped back, wiping his eyes, and Rizzo kept her hands on his arms, "So, what do I do?"

"Talk to him. Tell him what you're going through, tell him what's getting to you."

"That's just gonna make him feel even more guilty."

"He needs to hear it. How are either of you supposed to deal with the problem if you don't face those feelings head on? Zephyr, you have _got_ to stop bottling up your emotions like this, it's not healthy."

Zephyr frowned, "Do I really do that? Roz said something like that a while ago..."

"Good _Z_ , Zephyr, sometimes you'd think you never felt anything in your life!" she laughed a little and he just barely cracked a smile. Rizzo smirked, then playfully squished his cheeks and put on a baby voice, "Aw, is that a smile, cutie?"

He swatted her away, "Get off!"

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

 _ONE YEAR AGO – JANUARY_

" _...I just need him home. Everything will be fine when he's back home."_

" _Why? What exactly will Alonzo being back home do? Surely it can't_ everything _."_

" _Because once he's back, they'll all see there's nothing wrong with him. He's not dangerous or a threat, he's the same guy he's always been!"_

" _You want to know what I think?"_

" _No, but you're gonna tell me."_

" _You found comfort in Alonzo being around you all the time. That was the relationship you had with him for years, and it was all you knew. So now, on top of dealing with the trauma of what you saw him do, you've lost that reliability and consistency, and you're struggling to find something else to depend on in the same way. All of this anger and denial, it's all a response to that loss. You don't want to accept that he's not around anymore and you lash out at anything that reminds you of that fact. But when Alonzo is released from containment, Zephyr, you have to understand it won't immediately make things better. Acting up like this won't solve the problem. And it's going to take more than just bringing him home."_

"I _just need Al back. The rest of them might need more than that to believe things are OK, but_ I _just need Al."_

" _You can tell yourself that all you want, Zephyr, but you know you're just as scared of what else could happen as everyone els-"_

" _I'm sick of people telling me how I feel! I don't need this, I don't need to be here, I need Alonzo back home in Zombie Town and that's_ all _I need!"_

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

Alonzo had done practically nothing but apologise since the day he was released, and every "sorry" that left his mouth broke his mother's heart. Christmas had been quiet in their house, aside from a visit from Lindzey (and their dad), and so had New Year's Eve. She was clearly trying her best to keep his spirits up but it never seemed to last. And he felt the need to apologise for that, as well. But he was getting there. Talking with Lindzey, he could tell she didn't think any less of him. Zach and Roz were always ready to defend him when he needed it and of course, Zephyr refused to let him forget for even a second how much he loved him. Even if that little voice in the back of his head did keep telling Al he didn't mean it, he ignored it.

But he didn't stop apologising.

"Sweetheart," his mom said after one such instance, "You don't need to be sorry, OK? It's alright."

"But-"

"You can't do anything else to make up for it," she leaned across the table to touch his face, "I know a lot of problems have come out of this but it's nothing we haven't seen before. We're all in the same boat now, and how we got here doesn't matter anymore. We're here and we'll get ourselves out of it again," she assured him, "Zed and his garzi'ska changed things. Maybe you and Zephyr can change things this time."

"But it's _my fault_ that things need to change. Even the other zombies hate me now, Mom, I can't do anything."

"Not all of them. There's enough zombies here who still love you and care for you and appreciate what you did for them. And there _are_ people who have forgiven you. It's going to take a while for you to forgive yourself. We forgive you, and that's a start, but what you really need to do is forgive yourself," she looked at him for a moment, sitting at the table with his head in one hand, looking down, "I know how badly this is effecting you. I know you've been sick. I know you're holding back from your music. I know things with Zephyr are still hard right now, but I also know you can come out of this stronger than ever."

Al briefly met her eyes but didn't say anything. She blinked away her tears.

"... I just want you to be able to feel like yourself again..."

There was a knock at the door and she quickly got up to answer it, wiping her eyes. Al heard her call his name and went to see who it was.

"... Zephyr?"

He looked strangely nervous standing in the doorway.

"Al, I really need to talk to you."

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

Upstairs in Al's room, they ended up sitting side by side on the floor with their backs to the bed. It took a little while for Zephyr to find the words for what he wanted to say and Al waited patiently for him to start.

"... I don't want to make you feel any worse..."

"Zeph, I'm pretty sure I _can't_ feel any worse. No worse than I have been."

"Are you sure?"

He was genuinely asking. He really thought whatever he was going to say could tear Alonzo down even further.

"Just tell me. What's going on?"

Zephyr could only gesture vaguely, "Everything... I don't know, I just feel... _lost_. Like, I didn't know how to handle it when you weren't there and now that you're back, I'm too focused on making sure you're OK to think about myself. Rizzo says I'm bottling up my emotions and I guess she's right. I don't think I'm doing as good as I thought I was. With that fight, a-and getting suspended from the team and the counselling, I-I really was _not_ OK. I've been pretending I could deal with everything for your sake but I... _can't_."

Alonzo's heart dropped. Looking back, he realised Zephyr hadn't once shown any concern for himself. It was always about Al. He'd never even heard his side of the story.

"Zeph?" Al started in a quiet voice and he looked up. Al's eyes were on the floor but Zephyr could see the fear there, "What was it like... watching me...?" he finally lifted his head, "When it happened?"

He hesitated. He couldn't lie to him about anything else. He couldn't keep hiding things from him. But Zephyr still found it hard to answer. He took a breath to say something but stopped himself until Al reached out to lay a hand on his. Zephyr shook his head.

"... It was _hell_ ," he said shakily, "You were... rabid, it was like you couldn't even hear me, and when-" he cut himself off to swallow the lump in his throat and Al squeezed his hand, but Zephyr couldn't look him in the eye saying all this, "When you... y-you split his head open..."

"Hey, OK, stop," Alonzo quickly wrapped his arms around him, murmuring in his ear, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked..." he held him close, pressing his nose to Zephyr's cheek for a second or two before gently kissing him, "You were scared, weren't you? Of me."

The tears spilled over and Zephyr hid his face in the crook of Al's neck as he nodded against him. Alonzo sighed and closed his eyes, just letting Zephyr cry. He wasn't surprised. Who wouldn't have been scared in that moment? Zephyr soon pulled away again.

"Yeah," he rubbed at his eyes, "Yeah, I was. And I hate myself for it. I was scared of you. Z, Al, my heart was beating! It was only for a few seconds, then I was more scared _for_ you, but..." he choked, "... It was like I didn't know you."

Al said nothing for a while. He just sat there, his eyes wandering over Zephyr's face and his fingers tangling in his hair. Once Zephyr had calmed down a little, he spoke, "Is this what you were talking about in counselling?"

Zephyr sniffed and nodded, "Yeah..." he gave a humourless laugh and shifted slightly to tip his head onto Al's shoulder, "Apparently, it traumatised me. And that's why I was denying things and getting into fights and all that. It just," he shrugged, "drowned everything else out."

Alonzo rested his head on top of Zephyr's.

"Zeph..." he started but Zephyr interrupted, hanging his head in shame.

"I didn't even finish the counselling sessions," he muttered and Al straightened up, looking down at him, "It was supposed to be more than two months but I gave up. 'Cause I thought I didn't need to be there, I thought I just needed you. I walked out a couple times, I showed up late a lot, I argued with her about everything and then I just stopped going entirely."

Al frowned, "Didn't they make you go back?"

"Oh, they tried to. And I did not cooperate," Zephyr raised his eyebrows and shook his head, then sighed, "... I hated it."

Alonzo fell silent once again, staring at him. He pulled away from him, looking almost guilty.

"Zephyr, it was traumatic for _me_. But I can barely remember it. You saw me eat somebody," he didn't see how Zephyr flinched at the memory, his eyes screwed shut, He was too busy trying to block it out of his own mind, "Of course you were traumatised..."

He'd promised himself he wouldn't think about this again. He wouldn't question it anymore. Zephyr loved him. He _did_. He had made that perfectly clear. But even now, Alonzo found it difficult to ignore those nagging thoughts in the back of his head.

"... Why _are_ you still with me?" he asked and Zephyr's head jerked up in shock. His mouth hung open as Al went on, "You've been through hell because of me. How can you even look me in the eye and still say you love me?"

Eventually, Zephyr found his voice. He raised a hand to softly cradle Al's cheek, "I need you. I was a mess without you. I was just mad all the time, I couldn't handle it. You're so important to me," his thumb brushed away a stray tear from Al's eye, "I always feel safer with you. And yes, Al, I do still feel safe with you," he added when Al opened his mouth to say something, making him bite his lip and smile sadly, "You were right, I didn't want to admit the guy I loved could do that. I just kept pretending everything was fine when it really, _really_ wasn't. I can't blame you, though. You couldn't have known exactly what you'd do without your Z-band."

"Zed stopped himself..." Al mumbled and Zephyr's brow creased in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"The homecoming game freshman year. Zed could've killed Bucky but he stopped himself."

Zephyr leaned closer and combed his fingers through Alonzo's hair, " _Zed_ was wearing his Z-band. You can't compare yourself to that."

"Is there any difference? Being offline is pretty much the same as not wearing it."

"There's enough of a difference. Al, we've talked about this..."

"I know, but I can't help thinking about it...!"

"That's OK. It's OK to think about it, just know when what you're thinking isn't true. Yeah, I saw you at your worst but it doesn't change the way I feel about you, do you think I can just turn it off?" he stared at Al for a moment then took a breath, "Do you _want_ me to?"

"No!" Al grabbed his hand, "But... Zephyr, I'm so-"

"Don't you dare apologise. You've apologised enough for everything, you've been punished enough, and never, _never_ think for a second that I hate you or that I'm scared of you now. This isn't ever going to happen again. We're not going to _let_ it happen again, no zombie is going to forget this. I'll admit it, you made a huge mistake, you did something horrible and you can't ever change that. And maybe it set zombies back a couple years, and maybe there's a lot of humans who have given up on us, but we're still here. You're still here, Al. And I'm not losing you."

"Zeph..." Al dropped his hand to Zephyr's arm.

"I'm not done, baby..." as Zephyr ran his thumb across his bottom lip, Alonzo felt himself smile sincerely for the first time in a while at the rare use of the pet name. And that made Zephyr smile in return, "You remember when I said I felt like I was falling more in love with you? I really think I did. But you can't think of it as loving you more for killing somebody. I love how you care that much about me. I love that you saved my life! You risked everything for me!" he paused, "And I just realised I never actually thanked you for that."

Alonzo's eyes were on his lips, then they slowly drifted up to meet with Zephyr's, "So, thank me now."

He didn't need to be told twice. Zephyr kissed him with all the passion behind his words, leaving them both breathless once they finally parted. It took Zephyr a second to speak.

"Thank you."

Al just shrugged, "I love you, Zeph. I'd do anything for you."

Zephyr chuckled lightly and pressed another kiss to his jaw, "Yeah, you've proved that."

He went on peppering kisses all over Alonzo's face until Al stopped him.

"Zeph...? Zeph, I gotta tell you something."

When he pulled away, Zephyr was surprised by how sombre Al looked all of a sudden and he brought a hand to his face, "Hey, what's wrong?"

Feeling guilty, Al avoided his gaze, "I... I got so mad at you for hiding something from _me_..."

"What...?" Zephyr furrowed his brow and turned Al's head to make him to look at him, "You were hiding something?"

"I-I didn't want you to worry..."

"Tell me."

For a moment, he could do nothing but look into Zephyr's eyes.

"Remember those couple of days after it happened? How just... _mentioning_ brains made me feel sick?"

"Yeah?"

"Then... when I was in containment," he swallowed. It was still getting to him, "You never said much about it but I know you noticed how rough I looked..." he glanced up and saw Zephyr's concerned expression, "They only really feed you the brain-flavoured stuff in zombie containment."

"So, what, you're telling me you didn't eat that whole time?"

"I _ate_ ," he stressed, then looked away, "I _tried_ to. But I couldn't keep anything down. I was throwing up every few days."

"And you didn't say anything?"

"... I told Zach..."

"But not _me_?"

"I didn't plan on telling him! It was right after I got back home and I was over at his place. I wasn't, like, back to eating normally yet so it was still fresh in my mind and... yeah, I threw up. So I told him why," he gave Zephyr an uneasy look when he didn't respond right away, "... Are you mad?"

Zephyr quickly shook his head, "Why would I be mad at you? If anything, I'm mad at myself for not saying something!"

"That's what I mean, I didn't wanna tell you 'cause I knew you'd be mad at yourself. You always find a way to _not_ blame me."

There was a small pause as Zephyr thought.

"... I know..." he sighed, "... I guess I can't really blame anyone for this. 'Cept maybe the patrol. I got no problem blaming them."

Alonzo laughed and Zephyr couldn't help laughing with him. He'd missed that sound so much.

"We'll blame the patrol for everything, then!" Al said and leaned back against the bed, his smile slowly falling, "... And blame that guy for coming into Zombie Town in the first place. All of this is because of him."

"And not because of you, right?" asked Zephyr.

"Not because of me..." Al whispered, "I am _done_ blaming myself, Zeph. I just wanna get back to living my life."

"It's gonna be hard, garzi'ka," Zephyr matched his tone, inching a little closer and reaching up to brush Al's hair back, "Things are still changing. And it's not for the better."

"I know. But I've got you."

He took Zephyr's hand, lacing their fingers together, and gently pecked his lips. Zephyr rested his head on Alonzo's shoulder and closed his eyes. They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, then Al began to sing.

" _I want you to sit and listen, now. I know it's more like me to wanna make out. But I thought that we could try something new..._ "

He felt Zephyr shift, turning his head to lightly kiss Al's neck.

" _I'm not perfect but you swear I am doing my best to be a better man, and I have to say, it's all because of you._ "

Alonzo pressed his lips to Zephyr's forehead. He was confused when Zephyr pulled away from him.

"What?"

Zephyr, still smiling, turned and reached across the floor to where Al's guitar was propped up against the wall a few feet away. He picked it up and handed it over to him. Al bit his lip.

"I haven't heard you play in forever, Al. You haven't forgotten how, have you?"

Zephyr nudged Al and the corner of his mouth quirked up as he rolled his eyes. Zephyr's grin widened at the hint of his old self shining through. Al sat up, positioning the guitar on his lap and found the first chord.

" _You are the catalyst, you make me the best me that I've ever been. You are the catalyst, you make me trust you and like myself again._ "

Zephyr joined in, never taking his eyes off Alonzo's smile.

" _Can you tell me, how in the world could I ever ask for more? You show me love I've never felt before. You are the catalyst..._ "

By the end of it, they had both almost forgotten anything had ever gone wrong between them. The secrets were told, the arguments resolved and they were ready to face the outcome of the whole thing together.

Zephyr quietly took the guitar back from Alonzo and set it aside so he could pull him close and whisper into his ear.

"I've missed hearing you sing."


	11. Epilogue

**Disclaimer** \- I don't own ZOMBIES or any of the characters involved. Copyright to Walt Disney Studios. Names of BG zombies are mine, characters themselves aren't. The song When We Die is by Bowling For Soup.

And thus, Tattooed Mistakes (Are Gonna Fade Over Time) comes to an end...! Oh, man, this has been a wild wide, but I hope you've enjoyed it! Limelight, BtB etc will resume shortly~

I also have a new fandom obsession (alongside ZOMBIES) - Mary Poppins Returns! I have an idea for a Janks (Jane/Jack) fic in the works so if you're interested in that, keep an eye out ;)

* * *

Epilogue

Things weren't perfect. Far from it, in fact: the zombies and humans were segregated again, but not to the degree they once had been. The uniforms were back, but they still customised them. They had their classes separately, but they still walked the halls together. There were once again designated tables in the cafeteria for humans and zombies, but they still shared the cafeteria. The zombie patrol was everywhere, but they could live with that. At least until another revolution came around.

Alonzo and Zephyr's relationship had seriously improved since they opened up to each other about their trauma. After all they'd been through, they had come out the other side a little bruised but alive. Zephyr didn't care about the things people would say about him staying with Al – he had saved his life, and Zephyr had never felt more in love. And Alonzo was slowly but surely learning to forgive himself, taking it one step at a time to move past his mistakes. He had his family, he had his friends and he had his boyfriend.

Despite everything, though, there was one person – just one single person – that he still needed to hear something important from.

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

It was a couple more months until Alonzo felt like he could perform again, but the band had returned to rehearsing and playing together a little while ago. Zephyr talked to Bonzo, who was more than happy to give up some of his set time at the next zombie mash for Bowling For Zoup to make their comeback.

On the night of the zombie mash, it was a surprise that any humans showed up at all, but there was, in fact, a select few who hadn't turned on the zombies. More specifically, who hadn't turned on Alonzo. Bree and Addison were among them, but there was no sign of Keira. Al felt a stab a guilt when he noticed her lack of presence there but Roz didn't seemed bothered by it. They'd had the time to move on by now.

"You sure?"

Roz brushed him off, "Al, it's been ages, I'm getting used to it. Anyway, this is _your_ night. Don't waste it worrying about me!"

"They're right," Zach gently punched his arm, "Relax, man. Enjoy yourself."

Al nodded and shot both of them a smile. Zephyr handed him his guitar then swiftly took hold of his chin and pulled down into a long kiss, but they were soon torn apart by Zach's usual dramatics.

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in our faces, we're both single and you two are so in love!"

Al laughed and hugged Zephyr while Zach shook his head. It felt good to be goofing off like this again.

Once he was onstage, though, and standing in front of the mic, Al saw that some of the zombies and most of the humans were moving away from the dancefloor, and he felt his heart sink. Zephyr reached out to rub his arm soothingly and they shared a look.

"Don't worry about them," Zephyr whispered, "They don't matter."

 _They don't matter._

It was the ones who stayed who mattered. Rizzo and Zane were front and centre as always, with Zeke, Izabelle and their friends nearby. Bonzo and Zed, plus their girlfriends, and Eliza next to them with Topaz and Zora, too. Azure was there, having never given in when Inez, her best friend, had treated Alonzo so poorly, Chaz, Mackenzie, Mitzi, Cortez...

 _They_ mattered.

And when they started to play, it was like _nothing_ mattered.

" _Well, I know that it's early, and it's too hard to think. And the broken empty bottles are a reminder in the sink._ "

A flash of bright pink near the back caught his eye – not a human, it was accompanied by green coveralls and green hair – but it faded from view as soon as it had appeared, obscured by the crowd.

" _But I thought that I should tell you, if it's not too late to say, I can put back all the pieces, they just might not fit the same. 'Cause nothing's worth losing, especially the chance to make it right...!_ "

– TATTOOED MISTAKES –

The song came to an end and Alonzo scanned the crowd for the zombie he had seen, spotting them as they slipped away towards the light garden. He briefly turned to Zephyr.

"I'll be right back, play the next one without me."

"What? Where are you going?"

He slipped the guitar strap off his shoulder, already walking past Zephyr, "I just need to take care of something. Don't worry about it."

"Al..."

"It's fine," he assured him, meeting his gaze with a small smile, "Everything's fine."

He hopped off the stage, putting the guitar down in its stand, and ran for the light garden.

He stopped in the doorway when he saw Paizley sitting on the platform, her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting on top of them. Her arms were wrapped her legs and she was looking up, staring, expressionless, at the lights surrounding her. But in an instant, her head snapped round to see who was there and they both froze, eyes locked on one another. Alonzo was the first to speak.

"Hey..." he greeted her, a little lamely, and she ducked her head again, "I didn't expect to see you here. Zombie mashes aren't normally your thing."

Paizley just shrugged, "Yeah, I know, I just thought..." she trailed off.

Al took a tentative step forward, "Can we talk? I mean, it's been a while but are you, like, OK talking about it?"

She was quiet for a few seconds, still looking down, then she let her legs dangle off the edge of the platform and dropped her hands into her lap, "I don't know."

He took a chance and approached the platform, "Can I sit with you at least? I wanna talk. You don't have to answer. Or even listen. There's just some things I want to say."

"Alright," Paizley gave another shrug but otherwise didn't move.

Well, this was promising. Alonzo went to sit down on the opposite side of the platform, where they couldn't actually see each other. He took a moment to find the words to say and Paizley waited.

"I'm sorry about what happened. Everyone's telling me to stop apologising and I'm trying to but I think this is a fair exception. I never really got to apologise to you before."

Paizley was silent, but she was listening as he went on.

"I can't blame myself for you remembering," he told her, reminding himself as well, "But I gotta take some responsibility for it. The patrol wouldn't have been at your house if it hadn't been for me. So I'm sorry, Paizley," he paused. When she still didn't answer, he added, "I understand how you feel, now."

"No, you don't."

She didn't sound upset or annoyed or anything. Just... certain.

"I do. Maybe not everything but I understand what's like carrying something that heavy with you. And having everyone act so careful around you. Like you're gonna break any minute."

"Mm-hmm..."

Al turned his head enough so that he could see her out of the corner of his eye. She was sitting up straight with her head bowed in thought and her fingers played with the bow around her neck. He watched her for a moment, "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Do you get nightmares? About what happened to you?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Same," Al sighed and leaned back, "... Even before you remembered it?"

"Ever since it happened. I see the fire a lot. And sometimes I feel the taser."

"I always hear the skull cracking... And the blood everywhere..." he swallowed. He hadn't been sick over it in months but that didn't mean he felt comfortable thinking about it. He never would, "Can't imagine what it's like suddenly remembering it after all this time, though."

"Horrible," she muttered and Al opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, Paizley had pushed herself back onto the platform, crouching now, and turned completely to face him, "But I'll be fine. That's, uh..." she hesitated to continue, "... that's actually why I came here. I did wanna talk to you but, I dunno, I guess I chickened out. I've been thinking about it and you're right. It's not your fault I remembered that stuff. It's... _because_ of you, but it's not _your fault_. Does that make sense?"

"Makes sense to me."

"And... I would've said something sooner but after I shut you out, I couldn't face you after that. I feel like you had it worse, honestly, I didn't have the right to talk to you like I did after what you went through."

"Hey, wait a minute," Al frowned, placing a hand on her shoulder and making her turn back, "I didn't have it _worse_. It was just different. You can't compare those two things."

Paizley smiled, slightly cautious, "So, we're good?"

"We're good," Alonzo returned the smile and pulled her into a one-armed hug.

"Al?" Zephyr's voice came from behind them and they both looked up as he walked into the garden. He slowed down when he saw Paizley was with him, "Everything OK?"

"Zeph!" Al rolled his eyes affectionately and jumped off the platform to meet him halfway, "I told you I'd only be a minute."

"Right, a _minute_. We got through two whole songs without you," he glanced between Al and Paizley, "Did you guys talk it out, then?"

"Yeah. It's all good. No worries."

His hands now on Zephyr's waist, Alonzo couldn't resist leaning down to kiss him but they were interrupted by Paizley's giggling.

"You two want some privacy or what?"

The boys laughed along with her and Al tugged on Zephyr's hand, dragging him over to the platform.

"Nah, c'mon. We can all just sit here and chill."

"You don't want to get back out there? Roz and Zach'll be wondering where we are."

Al scoffed, "Please, half of the people out there have been _dying_ for us to disappear all night," he smirked and pushed Zephyr down to sit a few feet away from Paizley, "Besides, Roz and Zach aren't gonna risk walking in on us."

Paizley snorted, "Seriously, I will leave if you want me to!"

The three of them laughed and Al grabbed both her and Zephyr's wrists as he sat down between them, holding them there, "No way, you're staying here. We're _survivors_. Let's just appreciate that for a minute."

Zephyr wasn't entirely sure what had happened to get Alonzo in such a good mood, but he wasn't about to question it. If Al was happy, he was happy. And his grin only grew wider when Al put an arm around him and pulled him close, with Paizley leaning against him on his other side. Closing his eyes, Zephyr rested his head on Alonzo's shoulder and listened to the sound of his voice as he sang.

" _And I know that we're gonna be fine, and the tattooed mistakes are gonna fade over time. As long as we live, time passes by and we won't get it back when we die._ "


End file.
